We referred to guidance from the Department for Education on understanding school performance measures and data for governors in writing this article.
We'd also like to thank two of our associate governance experts, Brendan Hollyer and Ian Preston, for their help.
What you need to know about data
Your school's headline figures
All governors should know their school's headline numbers on:
- Attendance
- Pupil characteristics
- Pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) and the pupil premium
- Exclusions
- Pupil attainment and progress – for the school as a whole and any specific pupil groups that receive special focus
Know how to question the data
What's going well – e.g whether pupils are making higher than expected progress in a subject What to be concerned about – e.g. maybe pupils are performing