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Series 1: Episode 6

The school year is drawing to a close and the GCSE exams are looming. After being the lowest performing secondary school in the Academy Trust the previous year, the team at Mangotsfield decides to employ targeted measures to improve its next set of GCSE results. Across Britain, financially disadvantaged pupils are estimated to be academically more than two years behind their classmates by the time they sit their GCSEs. The government gives an allowance or pupil premium to schools for each disadvantaged pupil to help them close this achievement gap. At Mangotsfield School, one of the Year 11 boys has been identified by the school as needing extra support if he is to hit his target grades. From primary school he was recognised as a higher ability student but is currently achieving 4 or 5 grades lower than his teachers believe he is capable of. With a supportive mum, he should be on course to succeed if he can find the confidence and self-belief he needs. He is one of a group of 14 underachieving pupil premium boys who the staff decide to target with GCSEs rapidly approaching. The progress of the pupil premium students will be closely monitored by the government's education inspectors, Ofsted, when they next inspect the school - a visit that is due anytime. Mangotsfield is currently classed as 'requires improvement' by Ofsted but led by head teacher, David Spence, the school is vying to achieve the status of 'good' for the first time in its history. Mr Spence and his staff must prove they have made sufficient progress in closing the gap between the pupil premium students and their peers or the school risks remaining in the 'requires improvement' category. With staff fully focussed on mentoring and tutoring the pupil premium classmates and the exams just around the corner, David Spence takes a call from Ofsted. They're coming to inspect the school the next day.\n\nSchool is a co-production with the Open University.\n\nSchool is set in three secondary schools: Marlwood, The Castle and Mangotsfield. Together they form part of Castle School Education Trust (CSET), a large multi-academy trust in south Gloucestershire, where their budgets and fortunes are intertwined. Each of the head teachers answers to trust CEO William Roberts, who retrained to be a teacher after starting his career at a multinational corporation. Two thirds of all secondary state schools in England have academy status. Academies are funded and managed independently of Local Education Authorities and are increasingly grouping together to form multi-academy trusts (MATs), each managed by a single board of directors and CEO. The number of MATs in England has tripled in the past five years.

Source: BBC 2