Academy that bucked the trend

Pupils at one of the best London schools for boosting the results of failing students are tested every six weeks.

The Harris Academy in South Norwood scored one of the highest "value added" results in the capital, meaning that pupils who join after doing badly at primary school leave with GCSEs far higher than expected.

Principal Sam Hainey put the success down to teachers who monitor the results of pupils every six weeks. Any dip in performance is nipped in the bud with extra lessons and help. The academy's value added score is the fourth highest in London at 1064.3 - a score of 1000 means pupils achieve as expected.

Seventy-five per cent of pupils at the South Norwood academy passed five GCSEs at grades A*-C, including English and maths. Four years ago the figure was 19 per cent.

Mr Hainey said: "The key thing is excellent teaching, having teachers whose fingers are on the pulse, and using data to identify students who need extra support. We track our students every six weeks really carefully through data analysis. If they haven't made the progress we expect at that point we intervene. We work with parents, give extra enrichment classes and give special assistance for specific topics. We close that gap really quickly."

The school teaches in six-week "chunks", meaning that students can be assessed at the end of each block. Mr Hainey said many of the pupils arrive from primary school with results significantly below the national average.

He added: "We have a lot of work to do in year seven. When I saw these results I was ecstatic. They are a testament to the hard work and dedication of every teacher and student. But onwards and upwards, we want to beat this next year."