Improving English outcomes across Walsall

Having great English teachers does not always correlate to pupils achieving great outcomes. That was the starting point for the Key Stage 4 English project that Matrix were asked by the Department for Education to deliver across Walsall (a Priority Education Investment Area).

Our team supported English practitioners across Walsall schools to improve GCSE outcomes in 2024 and 2025, and build all improvement sustainably for the future.

The team’s approach was to:

•Develop bespoke programmes of support for each school after a thorough diagnostic and needs assessment.

•Work closely with each school to address their individual needs.

•Identify the highest leverage actions across Walsall and provide highly impactful conferences.

Within less than a year, several project schools had already improved their GSCE outcomes by more than 10%.

A headteacher of a school in the project said: “It was so impactful this year because the pace of change was felt rapidly. Matrix helped diagnose the issues and provided solutions quickly that demonstrably worked. It worked so well because Matrix held our hands through it. It was modelled to staff and the masterclasses to pupils were successful to the point that we’ve adopted that model ourselves.”