“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 300 people took part in the online vote, and 50.3% said yes – that was a near 50/50 split.

This is what readers had to say:

Alan Gibson said: “Families are stuck where they live, so how do they get a choice?

“So, only people with money can sell up and move house to be in a better catchment area.”

Bryony Jade Fucile said: “A league table is only as good as the cohort of kids in that year group.”

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.”