“It's about more than academics” – 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 53% said yes – that was a near 50/50 split.

This is what readers had to say:

Jeanette Purnell said: “A child who is willing to work will succeed wherever they are.”

Karl Schut said: “I can't help wondering if it would improve things if they started running them like schools instead of prison camps.

“Focus less on trainers and haircuts and more on maths maybe.”

Emma Louise Wilson said: “Well realistically you wouldn’t look at the table and decide to send your kid to the bottom schools.

“However there’s more to school than just the academics. Are the kids happy, are the meals healthy and fresh, happy staff, special needs provisions?

“It's more than academics that make a school. But it does help make a short list.”