1)The figures confirm that the fall in numbers of children has bottomed out and rolls are again rising, which will come as a relief to those schools who have suffered from falling rolls in recent years.  An increase of 130 children in the age cohort is a welcome 4% rise from 2013 for the schools most under pressure, as all battle for students.  The fall in numbers over the past eight years has seen four schools merged into two,  of which one, Bishop of Rochester Academy, has still seen its admission number  reduced by a further 60 places. Many others will be breathing a sigh of relief at the turnaround, even if it is slow at this point.

2) Even so, there is a fall in the number of boys taking the Medway Test, accompanied by a further increase in the proportion of girls to boys both taking the test and also passing, compared with the 2013 figures. I find this pattern perplexing and have no explanation for it, unless primary schools and parents are reacting to the reality of seeing fewer boys pass in previous years.

As I have pointed out on many occasions previously, I believe the Medway Test discriminates heavily against boys, who perform poorly on the extended writing exercise, a single piece of writing. This year I have collected the marks scored by children on the individual tests, which place the problem into stark focus. A child would achieve a pass standard scoring 105 on each of the five tests. On the extended writing, 30% of girls reached this standard and only 20% of boys. The maths and verbal reasoning scores balance out, with more boys than girls reaching the standard in the maths. So either girls are inherently more capable of writing than boys, or else there is a problem in the teaching in primary schools. Whatever, if this test pattern continues, it is clear that primary schools need to improve the standards of writing of boys.

3) Oddly, there is also a fall in the number of boys being put forward for Review. What is more startling is that of the 101 Medway boys and 138 Medway girls who  went to Review, just 17 boys and 19 girls were successful, a total of just 1.2% of the total cohort, against a target of  2% or 62 children. The Review is all about academic work produced in school. According to Medway Council: “The academic evidence supplied did not support a grammar assessment for the maximum 2% of the Medway cohort.” With growing concern over primary school standards in Medway, the inability to find another 26 children whose work is up to a grammar school standard, only highlights the problem and increases the pressure, especially as half the successful Reviews came from just five schools.  For the Review Panels comprise Medway headteachers and teachers will have set out to recruit the full number, and their failure to do so is an indictment of standards in schools delivered by local professionals.   

4) I have highlighted before the built in age prejudice of the Medway Test, showing a discrimination against both boys and younger children.  For 2015 entry, the bias towards older children is similar to 2012, the previous time I analysed the figures, with 55% of passes going to children born in the first half of the year, and 45% in the second half of the year on both occasions. Just 21% of boys in the cohort passed the Test this year, compared with 25% of girls.   

5) Remarkably, every one of the top four schools by percentage pass rate are Catholic Primary Schools, the only Medway state schools scoring over 50%. They are headed by St William of Perth at 55%, followed by St Benedict’s, English Martyr’s and St Thomas of Canterbury.  Of course the Medway Test is curriculum based, with 80% of the marks going to English and maths, so this reflects especially well on the teaching at these schools. This is in spite of the fact that Catholic schools are encouraged to support St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive, rather than the grammar schools. Just two schools had no successes, All Faith’s Children’s Community and Wayfield Community Primaries, both academies. Twydall Primary School, very much in the news at present, saw 22% of its pupils passing.

6) The number of children from outside Medway, taking and passing the Medway Test continues to rise inexorably as Kent children hedge their bets by taking both tests, and London families increasingly look to Medway as an alternative, but the reality is that few actually arrive. I suspect that the vast majority simply use the Medway Test as another practice for grammar school exams nearer their homes. Last year 107 Kent children were allocated places in the six Medway grammar schools,  but only 17 others, all but one from the London Boroughs, very few of whom will actually have arrived. Of the 321 out of Medway passes, this year, 270 have come from Kent, all but three of the others from London Boroughs, ranging from Bexley to Harrow. A total of 573 out of Medway children took the test. The  Medway Cabinet Member for Education has argued that the Council should consider making a charge for out of county testing. For once, I find myself in agreement with his view, but seriously doubt that it would be legal.