Welcome
National Challenge is an ambitious programme by the Department for Children, Schools and Families to ensure that at least 30 per cent of pupils in every maintained secondary school and Academy in England achieves at least five higher grade GCSEs including English and maths by 2011.
We do this by:
- getting behind the efforts of schools to succeed
- giving all pupils the chance to achieve their potential, and
- ensuring lasting improvement in all schools and Academies to make every school a good school
Latest news
Following the 2009 GCSE results by schools, the number of schools failing to reach the National Challenge benchmark fell to 247. This means that only one in 13 schools is below the benchmark compared to approximately one in two (1600 schools) in 1997 and 439 schools last year.
Video series - "The Challenge"
In a series of videos produced for Teachers TV we follow the efforts of the headteacher of Lilian Baylis Technology College in Lambeth as he works to improve results. These videos show how one school is choosing to raise results supported by National Challenge. The views expressed in the videos do not necessarily represent the views of the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
The whole series can be viewed using the player on this page or on YouTube. The videos are also available to download in .mp4 format below.
Part 1: Here we go again [45mb]
Part 2: Pressure [43mb]
Part 3: Good news [45mb]
Part 4: Targets [46mb]
Part 5: Moving the goalposts [46mb]
