I am writing to express my disappointment regarding an article that appeared in your newspaper revealing the ‘best’ and ‘worst’ schools in Radlett and Borehamwood.

This article used the recent primary school league tables to compare various schools in the local area, and consequently labelled Clore Shalom as the ‘best’ school and Saffron Green the ‘worst’ school.

Disappointingly, the article failed to mention the progress made by the pupils in each school. In Saffron Green (the so-called ‘worst’ school), an impressive 95 per cent of pupils improved their reading performance by two levels during their time at primary school, which the Government defines as the expected level of progress. This can be compared with the progress made by pupils in the ‘best’ school, Clore Shalom, where just 87 per cent of pupils made this expected progress.

Saffron Green’s SATS reading results may have been lower than the ‘best’ schools, but their high level of progress indicates a very high standard of teaching. Similarly, in writing, 95 per cent of pupils in Saffron Green made two levels of progress, compared with 94 per cent of pupils in Clore Shalom.

Labelling a school ‘best’ or ‘worst’ may make sensational headlines to attract people’s attention, but unfortunately can give a distorted view of the quality of those schools, which may be unfair and unwarranted.

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