One of the top officers from the local authority/academy chain has come to visit. The school looks great, and staff and pupils are all prepared. Once upon a time, said visitor would have walked around the school, chatting to teachers and children along the way. They’d talk about the school’s successes and its challenges, too. All accompanied by copious amounts of cake and tea. 

Now, things go a little differently. The officer arrives, probably a little late, of course (well, they are far more important than you…), with no time to walk around the school. Instead, it’s straight down to the business of numbers: those results and the progress that hasn’t been made. The focus is all on data-driven drivel. Individual pupils and their needs are lost, and the needs of the local community are rendered irrelevant. 

Whatever happened to the school being the focal point of the community? Whatever happened to all elements of that community working towards a common aim rather than competing with each other. Schools would aim to meet the needs of all pupils - irrespective of what these were. Education used to be about lifelong learning.

Schools used to promote their pre-school and after-school provision. They used to promote cultural, pastoral and sporting provision and recognise how important these things were for both the child and the school. We created rounded individuals who could build and maintain happy and healthy lives for themselves. 

Schools went way beyond because that is what the individual and the community needed.

Now budget cuts have made it impossible for schools. Without the resources, schools struggle to cater to every child’s every needs. 

Some are, heroically, managing to offer this provision. And how are they thanked for it? How are they rewarded for it? Endless requests for data and heightened accountability. 

The powers that be see education as what can be recorded on a data spreadsheet. Until this changes, pupils will be offloaded to create the data needed, and our children, teachers and communities will suffer. Some pupils, according to the data, are simply more important than others. 

I’m sure that those in charge feel that they’re doing what’s right. But school data is now ridiculous - the DfE has lost its way, and our children are suffering because of it. 

If only we could go back to the time where a school’s role was to meet the needs of its community and ensuring that individuals were inspired to learn for life.

Colin Harris led a school in a deprived area of Portsmouth for more than two decades. His last two Ofsted reports were “outstanding” across all categories