Redbridge's A-level performance is lagging behind the national average, according to a report presented at the Education Scrutiny Sub-Committee meeting on Tuesday, 8 July 2025.

The report, which provided an overview of the 2024-2025 strategy for improving A-Level outcomes in schools, highlighted that while Redbridge's performance in subjects like maths, psychology, and economics is on par with the London average, there's a noticeable gap in biology, chemistry, physics, and government and politics. The Sixth Form Strategy Group will extend its invitation to Academies where underperformance and low outcomes have been identified through published outcomes from September 2025.

Outcomes in Key Stage 5 are declining and for all schools this remains a key area of focus, the report stated, emphasising the need for consistent attainment across all schools to ensure students achieve higher outcomes. The report also noted that ensuring a strong offer to those students in the Post-16 phase will support the retention of students remaining in Redbridge after Key Stage 4.

In 2024, the average grade achieved per A-Level entry for all students attending Redbridge schools was a Grade C+, lower than the average for England and the local authority's statistical neighbours.

To address this, the School Improvement Service formed a Sixth Form Strategy Group in September 2023, inviting all maintained schools to participate in strategising an approach for improving KS5 outcomes. All 11 maintained schools with sixth forms committed to the group, and academies are set to be invited from September 2025.

The report identified several contributing factors to the current A-level outcomes, including:

  • Socio-economic factors: Disadvantaged students pursuing facilitating subjects and parental education levels not always supporting extra-curricular learning.
  • Systemic factors: Teacher quality and teaching styles, and students lacking independent skills for critical thinking and learning.
  • Legacy factors: Students' mental health, with increased anxiety and stress post-pandemic.

Improvement strategies are being implemented at three levels: Redbridge Local Authority (LA), school-level, and collaboratively through the Sixth Form Strategy Group.

School-level strategies include strengthening the role of teachers through professional development that is bespoke to KS5 pedagogical practice, providing opportunities for collaboration and shared planning, and reducing the responsibility for only one sole teacher for each class. The strategy also includes making better use of assessment and Alps data, providing emotion-based student support, earlier identification for intervention, and a recruitment drive into the sixth form. Ten out of eleven maintained schools have signed up to use Alps data, using it for comparative analysis.

Redbridge LA-level strategies involve visiting every maintained secondary school to discuss A-level outcomes, reviewing the quality of provision and teaching in some schools, and working with individual heads of sixth form to complete Sixth Form Improvement Plans.

The Sixth Form Strategy Group will extend its invitation to academies from September 2025 and increase its focus on reviewing the quality of education.

The Education Scrutiny Sub-Committee was asked to consider and comment on the points raised in respect of the School Improvement Strategy for improving A Level outcomes in Redbridge. More information can be found in the Public Reports Pack for the meeting.