Mr. Nigel Frith:

Yes. Ultimately, the only way forward is through what is called a value-added system. We talk a lot at Drumragh about personal best. We need a system that evaluates. Children are benchmarked academically when they join the school, which is not difficult, and then one measures the extent to which they are over-performing based on the initial predictions. A value-added system would determine whether each youngster had performed below, on a par with or above what had been expected initially.

Out of that, one has a value-added system which asks whether a youngster achieved below par, on a par or above par, with regard to their initial expectations. If we could design a barometer that picked up on that system rather than asking how the grammar schools did or how the non-selective schools did and all of that, we would have a way of genuinely measuring the quality of each school and its delivery.