Oldham primary school among England's worst

Picture courtesy of Google Street View

An Oldham primary school has been named and shamed on a list of the worst performing schools in the whole of England.

That’s according to documents from the Department for Education which claim 364 primary schools right across the country fell well below the Government standards for performance in 2017-2018.

In Oldham, Clarksfield Primary School made the list.

In the North West, 40 primary schools were named, with Clarksfield Primary the only one in our area.

Schools which made the list were deemed to have fallen below the government’s performance threshold if pupils didn’t make enough progress in subjects such as English and Maths.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: “Standards are rising in our schools, with 86% of schools now rated good or outstanding as of August 2018, compared to 68% in 2010 and these statistics show that the gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has closed by 13% since 2011.

“Every child, regardless of their background, deserves a high quality education and opportunity to fulfil their potential.

"Headteachers are using the freedoms afforded by academy and free school status to make this a reality, as illustrated by the progress disadvantaged pupils in multi-academy trusts are making in writing and maths.”

In response to the findings at Clarksfield Primary School, Councillor Paul Jacques, Oldham Council’s Cabinet Member for Education and Culture, said: “These performance measures are based entirely on data which, in primary schools, relates to the results of SATs taken by Year 6 pupils over one week in May after seven years of education.

“They do not tell the whole story of a school and we believe far too much weight is placed on them.

“We’ve been working with partners from Oasis Community Learning Trust over the past year to improve standards at Clarksfield Primary School.

“The trust appointed an experienced school leader as Executive Principal to work with the staff team to drive improvements at the school, and engage with parents and pupils ahead of its conversion to an academy this January.

“The council has also recently approved funding so the school can expand to ensure there is a new learning environment so pupils receive the best education possible in surroundings that are fit for purpose.”

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