Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to make the tracking of pupils’ progress over time the principal league table criterion for primary schools.

The Department for Education announced in March 2014 that it will introduce a new headline performance measure for primary schools from 2016. This will be based on the progress made by pupils from reception to the end of primary school.

The new progress measure will ensure schools are fairly judged on the performance of all their pupils and will recognise the progress pupils make in schools with more challenging intakes.

Attainment will continue to be an important part of how we measure schools’ success, as we know that if pupils do not master English and maths in primary school their chances of achieving a set of valuable qualifications at age 16 are low.

Therefore, a school will only fall below the floor standard if pupils make poor progress and fewer than 85% of them achieve the new expected standard in English and mathematics.

The Government’s plans for reform of primary school performance measures are detailed in the response to the consultation on accountability for primary schools.[1]

[1] www.gov.uk/government/consultations/new-national-curriculum-primary-assessment-and-accountability