“All schools should be ‘Good’ schools” – Readers comment on whether league tables help parents choose better schools for their children

The latest Key Stage 4 school performance tables for 2019 have been published by the Department of Education.

Schools are judged against a measure called Progress 8 which shows how much progress pupils at each school made between the end of key stage 2 and the end of key stage 4, compared to pupils across England who got similar results at the end of key stage 2.

We asked in our Facebook poll: “Are school league tables helpful for parents choosing schools for their children?”

More than 200 people took part in the online vote, and 56% said yes – that was a close 50/50 split.

This is what readers had to say:

Craig Seago said: “They might be useful if you can get your child into the school you want, but you’ve got to live in a certain area for different schools.

“Then when they make your child go to a school which isn’t the first choice, a year into the child’s first year the council decide to close said school.

“Disrupting the child’s education and contradicting the boundaries rule that they enforced a year earlier. Then adding the cost of new uniforms and daily travel to the new school.”

Agnes George said: “I remember a time we all went to the school nearest your home. All schools should be "Good" schools. Instead of the head running a business.”