A REPORT that ranked progress made by secondary school pupils in St Helens as among the poorest in the country will have made worrying reading for anyone who cares about the town’s future.

Progress 8 (P8) data – a score based on how well pupils have performed between the end of primary school and GCSEs – saw St Helens placed 148 out of 152 local authorities.

The natural question of any parent, whose child is either in primary or secondary school system, is why?

There is plenty of outstanding work goes on in secondary schools and, as is regularly shown in the Star’s pages, some brilliant students who record achievements their communities can be proud of.

We are also aware that the job faced by those who work in education is immensely challenging.

But this is not the first time secondary education has come under fire in the past five years in national reports.

And, despite messages from politicians that improving secondary education was a top priority and that high schools or academies would attain outstanding status from Ofsted (we still don’t have one to achieve that grade from inspectors) St Helens seems to lag behind where it should be.

Who should be held accountable and give parents the answers they want?

That’s a difficult one, as the move to academisation by some schools, has diluted the influence of the traditional “local education authority”.

Should the responsibility then just fall down to the heads and the boards of governors?

It is a lack of clarity should be laid at the feet of successive governments.

What is clear in my mind is that someone must take command for driving through change. A personal view is that a culture of low aspiration – and more specifically that some students who strive to do well are criticised by their peers – is holding us back. Some break free of this, but how many underachieve?

The Invest St Helens strategy, launched last year, that aims to boost confidence and pride in the borough has forged links with schools and that should be welcomed.

But changing this culture will be a long haul.