Under-achievement in GCSE English and maths is well documented – and well discussed. But some schools are quietly turning things around for the “forgotten third” of year 11 pupils.
Every year, about a third of GCSE pupils across England finish year 11 without achieving a grade 4 in English and maths.
In 2019, a commission set up by ASCL, the leaders’ union, dubbed these children the “forgotten third”.
It asked why “a third of 16-year-olds, after 12 years of compulsory schooling, cannot read or write English at what the Department for Education describes as standard pass level?”.
At its annual conference this year, Manny Botwe, the union’s president, warned there had since been “plenty of talk, but not enough action” as he called on government to address the problem through its curriculum review.
Little may have changed nationally, but behind the scenes some schools are working hard to turn things around for this cohort.
The schools that defy their odds
FFT Education Datalab carried out nationwide analysis, giving every school an “estimated” percentage of pupils expected to pass English and maths. This was based on the attainment of schools with a comparative intake.
The analysis identified some schools that massively outstripped their predictions.
Top of the list is Red House Academy in Sunderland, where more than half (54 per cent) of pupils are eligible for free school meals.
‘We talk to pupils about maths or English as they come in the gate’
Datalab’s analysis suggests just 46 per cent of pupils would be expected to pass English and maths. Seventy-one per cent passed last year – far above the average of 62.2 per cent for the north east.
“We’re really pleased with the progress that we’ve made in what are really quite deprived, tough circumstances,” says Andrew Jordon, the senior executive principal at Northern Education Trust, the school’s sponsor.
Caretakers and canteen staff roped in
Every member of staff is involved in “intervention by interaction”. They are given cards with five maths or English questions they can ask pupils during lunch or gate duty.
“As the children come into school on the gate [we] talk to them about maths problems or English problems,” he says.
“Right away from when they get into school, whether it’s the caretaker, the canteen staff, the executive principal, they’re all talking to them about their maths and English.
“It’s just a simple way of reminding them that we all think maths and English are important.”
Third best-performing compared to its predictions is Henley Bank High School in Gloucestershire.
Last year 76 per cent of pupils achieved grade 4 or above in maths and English – 22 percentage points above the figure “expected” by Datalab.
“We see maths and English GCSE as an absolute game-changer for all children,” says Will Smith, the chief executive of its sponsor, the Greenshaw Learning Trust.
“Reading is probably, next to safeguarding, the single most important thing across our organisation.”
All pupils from year 7 are part of its tutor reading programme, which Smith says exposes them to “between four and five million words by the end of year 10”.
Four or five mornings a week, form tutors spend 20 to 25 minutes reading aloud to pupils, as they follow along in their own books.
Faye Bradbury, co-head of school at Henley Bank, said the school tries to introduce pupils to “great stories” to help foster a love for reading.
“All of the research suggests that brilliant readers will do significantly better in their GCSEs,” she said. “For some of our absolute weakest readers, we have got other interventions that take place in the morning.”
Drawing on MAT resources
The Northern Education Trust also uses its MAT network in a “highly effective” way to boost teacher and pupil learning, Jordon says.
“It’s almost like one school across 17 secondary sites that we see ourselves as, collegiately working together towards the same goal.”
And using one specially designed curriculum across all schools “means staff are in quite a big community, learning about how to teach that curriculum”.
“You can bring all of the maths staff, for example, in the trust together to learn about the best ways to teach that curriculum. There’s a real power to that.”
The trust also has 40 “directors of subject” who are parachuted-in to give certain pupils in need of help a “rocket boost”.
Close monitoring and fast interventions
Jordon says the trust also uses “fast-paced” interventions to help struggling pupils.
At weekly meetings, staff go through all year 11 students and their progress in English and maths “down to granular detail about what they’re struggling to do, or what they’ll doing well in”.
From that meeting individual pupils will get allocated one of around 15 interventions, which are rolled out “the next day”.
Prioritising teacher welfare
Peter Byrne is headteacher at St Oscar Romero Catholic School in Sussex, where 86 per cent of pupils achieved 4+ in maths and English last year – far more than the predicted 66 per cent.
He says disadvantaged pupils and those who might typically be at risk of falling into the forgotten third are “always the first students we look to”.
“We make sure they’re being taught by the right teachers. The most experienced teachers teach the students that need the most support. There is a huge amount of intervention that goes on to support them.”
Byrne says key to high academic performance is consistency, and key to that is prioritising teacher welfare.
“What we as a school have to do is compensate for any lack of parental aspiration, and that requires a staff who are completely committed,” he says, describing staff as his school’s ‘most precious resource’.”
Letting teachers focus on teaching
St Oscar Romero has “very little turnover” and has not had a supply teacher for five years, Byrne says.
“I think the key to that is to really take care of your staff.”
He says he and his deputies are the only staff who deal with “rude, abusive parents. It’s the job of the leadership.”
The school has also changed its marking policy “to try and reduce unnecessary workload”.
It also runs a centralised detention system run by the senior leadership team so teachers “don’t have to get bogged down in doing all of that. Staff can focus on…producing great lessons.”
The school also seeks to be flexible on leave.
“If it’s a child’s nativity, sports day, a wedding, a graduation, my answer is always yes,” he says. “I know what you get back in goodwill is 10 times that.”
The school achieves consistency when staff are off by ensuring year 11 classes are not covered by a non-specialist where possible.
‘As a school we have to compensate for any lack of parental aspiration’
Greenshaw Learning Trust also strips away “all the unnecessary things that don’t need to happen…marking, attending endless meetings…hours of planning”.
Smith says this means teachers’ “sole focus” is on creating “brilliant” classes that explain subjects with “simplicity and clarity”.
Believing every pupil can achieve
Byrne says his school has “high expectations of every child”, including those who join the school “with very low starting points”.
“It’s making sure that every teacher believes in their gut, absolutely believes that every child can get at least a grade four.
“And then it’s just never giving up on them and never letting them not give their best, and being relentless about that.”
Firm approach to behaviour
Jordon also attributes some of Red House’s success to a firm approach to behaviour, meaning less time is “wasted” and “teachers can just get on with teaching”.
St Oscar Romero also has a strict approach and “very consistent” expectations.
“To let [pupils] off is to let them down. If so-and-so hasn’t done their homework, you can ignore that or you can say ‘do you know what? That’s an issue, and I’m not going to allow that, because ultimately that’s going to cause that child…to underachieve’,” says Byrne.
Graham Dakin, co-head of Henley Bank, says its behaviour policy is “the bedrock” of what the school does.
‘Every teacher must believe that every child can get at least a grade four’
“We don’t ever compromise standards for year 11…particularly the sets that maybe are at risk of not achieving grade fours in English and maths.”
Smith says creating “disruption-free classrooms” and making behaviour “a focus for the leadership team, not individual teachers creates classrooms in which everybody thrives, particularly those who are vulnerable, including children with SEND.
Who are the ‘forgotten third’?
In 2018-19, more than 191,000 GCSE pupils – 35.4 per cent of that year’s cohort – failed English and/or maths, according to DfE data analysed by FFT Education Datalab.
That fell slightly during the pandemic as teacher assessment replaced exams. But in 2022-23, the figure rose to more than 211,000. Last year it soared further, to more than 220,000 (35 per cent).
The demographics of the forgotten third have remained largely the same across the past six years.
Pupils with SEND are over-represented. In 2023-24, only 37.7 per cent of state-funded pupils receiving SEND support, and just 13 per cent of those with an EHCP, passed GCSE maths and English. This is compared with 72.2 per cent of those without SEND support.
Pupils’ socio-economic background also has an impact. Just 43.4 per cent of disadvantaged pupils passed both subjects last year, compared with 72.7 per cent of those not deemed disadvantaged.
There is also a significant, persistent north-south divide.
In parts of the north and Midlands the “forgotten third” is nearer 40 per cent, while in London, it is nearer 30 per cent.
This geographical divide is also growing. In 2018-19, there was an 8.2 percentage point difference between the lowest performing area (the north east) and the highest (outer London).
Last year, the gap between the north west – now the worst-performing area – and outer London was 10.6 percentage points.
