Croydon's Key Stage 4 (KS4) education outcomes are lagging behind national and regional averages, despite improvements in Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Key Stage 2 (KS2) results. The findings were discussed at a meeting of the Scrutiny Children & Young People Sub-Committee on Tuesday, 10 March 2026.
A report presented to the committee highlighted that while EYFS saw a Good Level of Development (GLD) of 70.4%, exceeding the national average, and KS2 pupils achieved 68% at the expected standard in reading, writing, and maths (above the national average), KS4 performance remains a concern.
At KS4, the percentage of pupils achieving grades 9-5 in English and Maths was 42.4%, lower than the London average of 52.9% and the England average of 45.4%. Croydon's provisional Attainment 8 score was 44.5, significantly lower than the England average of 46 and the London average of 54.9.
Miriam Sechere, Head of Education Services, attributed some of the challenges to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted learning for cohorts who missed critical early years and secondary school phases. She noted that children who experienced disruptions in Years 1 and 2 of primary school may have had their foundational literacy and numeracy skills affected, while those in secondary school missed crucial transition periods.
Actions being taken to address these KS4 outcomes include the development of a Secondary Oracy Hub, aimed at improving reading comprehension, reasoning, and writing skills. The Croydon Education Partnership, in collaboration with Oracy Cambridge, has been working since June 2025 to establish five Oracy Hubs of Excellence in selected primary schools. This program aims to embed high-quality oracy across the curriculum to strengthen vocabulary, reasoning, and pupils' ability to articulate their thinking. The intended outcomes are to improve Key Stage 2 outcomes in reading, comprehension, and writing, and to support stronger progress measures. The hub schools will also serve as outreach centers to share best practices across the borough. The initiative is ongoing until August 2027.
The council is also working with schools to enhance teaching and learning through its traded services, offering support on areas such as trauma-informed teaching and leadership development. Croydon is investing in system-wide training and improvement for its schools, which includes a universal trauma-informed training available to all schools. This training aims to help staff understand behavior in context and respond relationally rather than punitively. Additionally, intensive traded trauma-informed services are available for schools seeking deeper, whole-school cultural change interventions. The Croydon Education Partnership and Public Health have commissioned trauma-informed practice training, which is being offered at both primary and secondary levels.
Partnerships with schools are being strengthened through the Croydon Education Partnership, with a focus on recruitment and retention of staff to ensure consistent teaching across the borough.
Despite these efforts, the report indicated that the high mobility of pupils in and out of Croydon, with significant in-year admissions, places additional pressure on schools and can impact KS4 outcomes. The council is also working to improve the provision of careers advice and guidance to ensure students are on appropriate post-16 pathways. Schools have a statutory responsibility to provide careers advice and guidance, and Croydon schools are connected to the South London Careers Hub, a funded opportunity providing dedicated advisors to ensure schools deliver required careers education. The national curriculum review is also focusing on embedding careers education.
School improvement initiatives can typically take between two and four years to show a measurable impact, with a typical year-on-year improvement in outcomes around 2.5%. Key performance indicators being tracked for KS4 outcomes include Attainment 8 scores and the percentage of pupils achieving grades 9-5 in English and Maths.
More details on education standards and performance dashboards can be found in the Public reports pack.
