The ‘best’ schools in the Midlands, where teachers have the most impact on pupils’ life chances, have been named. The list has been drawn up as part of the Fairer Schools Index which gives a more accurate insight into the places where teachers are truly making a difference in class.
Researchers measured every school in the country against a series of additional performance metrics in a bid to improve on official DfE league tables and provide a clearer picture of top-performing schools, including those which face greater challenges and have to battle against the odds.
The West Midlands is mainly made up of more prestigious names but Bloxwich Academy in Walsall was included as 7th best across the whole region. The Steiner Academy in Hereford was given the crown for best school in both the region and country.
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Birmingham’s Eden Boys’ School and Eden Girls’ Leadership Academy were named as second and third. The full list is below.
- The Steiner Academy, Hereford
- Eden Boys’ School, Birmingham
- Eden Girls’ Leadership Academy, Birmingham
- St Paul’s School for Girls, Birmingham
- Fairfield High School, Herefordshire
- Eden Girls’ School, Coventry
- Bloxwich Academy, Walsall
- King Edward VI School, Warwickshire
- King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys, Birmingham
- Alcester Academy, Warwickshire
The study, reported by the Mirror, highlights the dozens of schools which have climbed hundreds of places up the rankings when additional factors such as pupil demographics are taken into account. Among the most improved Midlands schools were Greenwood Academy in Birmingham, Moreton School in Wolverhampton and Ormiston Shelfield Community Academy in Walsall.
Supporters say the Fairer Schools Index goes some way to redress the “false narrative” of a north/south divide in Government league tables. Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, which backs the index, said: “By failing to account for a number of different variables related to pupils’ backgrounds, the last government labelled many schools in areas like the North East of England as under-performing while failing to account for demographic differences in helping drive higher outcomes in London schools.
“Those schools that beat the odds stacked against their pupils should be recognised as being high performing, and that will drive down the disadvantage gap over the decade to come and reduce the gaps which exist across and between parts of England today.”