The second edition of Trinity Mirror’s Real Schools Guide has been published across many of its regional news titles.
The guide – created by Trinity Mirror’s Data Unit – is a comprehensive ranking of state-funded primary schools, based on their results, teaching, progress and attendance.
The ranking system uses 33 different measures, put together from the latest publicly available data covering up to the 2013/14 school year, and broken into four indicators.
The system aims to move beyond just looking at Key Stage 2 results as a measure of how good schools are to give parents an idea of which schools will help their child prosper, no matter what their background is.
As a result, the league table factors in whether all pupils are making progress, what attendance is like, the ratio of teachers to pupils and if pupils are doing better than expected.
Attainment is worth 30% of the total score, teaching 40%, progress 20% and attendance 10%, respectively.
The searchable guides are available online at the Manchester Evening News, Liverpool Echo, Birmingham Mail, The Chronicle, The Gazette, Coventry Telegraph and Huddersfield Daily Examiner.
The guide has received praise from the minister of state for schools, David Laws. He said: “Making information about school performance freely available allows parents to see how their child’s school is performing compared to others – and if necessary challenge it to improve.
“I’m pleased to see Trinity Mirror putting this information to good use.
“It is vital we continue to raise standards so all children leave primary school with a thorough grounding in reading, writing and maths and can thrive at secondary school.
“Publishing information on school performance is a key part of that.”
Senior data journalist at Trinity Mirror, Claire Miller said: “The primary schools edition of the Real Schools Guide returns for a second year in England, just ahead of the closing date for parents to choose a school for their children.
“This year’s guide is updated with the latest information about how schools are performing, allowing parents to get an in-depth look to help them make decisions about their children’s education.”
Last October the news group also produced guides looking at the most sought-after schools.
