1st February 2016
Dear Parents /
Guardians,
School’s Response to Categorisation
As a school we
are very disappointed with the lack of clarity in reporting the process of
national categorisation, which has been widely publicised in the local press
over the last week. The purpose of this letter is to respond to any concerns
that you may have in light of the school’s current Amber Status.
Firstly, we
would like to point out that this is not a comparison of Merthyr Schools.
Schools are grouped together depending on the amount of free school meal
children who attend, and other socio-economic factors. Our school has very low
free school meals by comparison to most Merthyr schools and therefore is not
compared against them in this process. For example:
- The percentage of children who attained the
expected level for the core subjects at the end of KS2 last year at
Abercanaid was 91.3% - this is in line with the results of the Green Merthyr schools (nb. one of
the green schools scored 84%).
- Only 2 children with Special Educational Needs
at Abercanaid did not attain this level.
- Abercanaid performed above all but one
of the Yellow Merthyr schools at
this measure.
It is worth
noting due to low Free School Meals - Abercanaid’s grant funding was the lowest
in Merthyr - £500 less per pupil than the best funded school in Merthyr in
grant funding alone.
The
categorisation process is based on raw data. Before Christmas the school
governors met with our Challenge Advisor to review teaching and learning at the
school, discuss individual children who affect the data and agree the
categorisation. This was agreed as Yellow – even though the school’s data
suggests otherwise due to the Special Educational Needs of individual pupils. People
who know the school recognise that the standard of teaching and learning at the
school is good for ALL pupils.
A moderation
committee met at the end of December and downgraded our categorisation to Amber – purely on raw data. Against the
recommendation of our Challenge Advisor who knows the school. This is also out of step with our recent
Estyn Inspection which judged standards to be GOOD and ability to improve to be
GOOD also.
Abercanaid has
always been and will continue to be an inclusive school. We welcome children
from our community who have specific educational needs, support them to make
appropriate and often greater than expected progress. Unfortunately the system we work within does
not have the capacity to get to know the awesome individual children we have
the privilege to work with, all it sees are numbers. Furthermore, it does not recognise the hard
work and dedication of the excellent staff who work at our school.
Finally, you may
wish to know that the school is predicted to be yellow for September 2016, and
Green the following year. Either way, as
you can see from above, this measure is not something that the school feels is
an accurate reflection of the education that your children receive.
As ever, thank
you for your continued support and understanding. If you need any further
clarification please do not hesitate to ask one of our staff, or governors who
will be pleased to explain this process further.
Kind Regards,
Mr. M Sullivan,
Headteacher.
