The purpose of KS3 cannot simply be prep for GCSEs

Alan Milburn’s recent interim review on young people and work contains a challenge that resonates far beyond Whitehall.

It warns that almost one million young people are now not in education, employment or training, at an estimated annual cost of £125 billion - far outstripping what England spends on education itself. That represents a huge practical and cultural challenge, not just a policy one.

So where have we gone wrong?

A KS3 problem?

The White Working Class Inquiry offered us a glimpse into a big part of the causation: it argues that too many young people become disengaged from education long before they leave school.

It’s my belief - and that of many of my colleagues in the profession - that this stems from a problem in the early years of secondary education. This is why I agreed to co-chair the RISE Key Stage 3 Alliance.

For too long, KS3 has lacked a clear identity and purpose. Accountability, policy and public debate have focused on primary outcomes and GCSEs, leaving the years in between as England’s “missing middle” - a phase rich with opportunity but lacking the national focus it deserves.

That is extraordinary when you consider what these years represent in a young person’s life.

The teenage brain

Early adolescence is when young people begin to work out who they are, where they belong and what they might become. It is when attitudes towards learning become embedded, confidence can flourish or diminish, and attendance often begins to fray.

Research from our Lift KS3 Cliff Edge report found that 84 per cent of Year 6 pupils report a strong sense of belonging at school. By Year 9, this falls to just 58 per cent. For disadvantaged girls, it falls lower still.

Belonging is not an optional extra. It is one of the foundations of academic success.

Beyond attainment

Prior attainment remains one of the strongest predictors of later success. The majority of pupils who leave primary school below the expected standard in English and maths also fail to secure a grade 4 in those subjects at GCSE.

But prior attainment should not become destiny. KS3 is the last universal opportunity to change trajectories before GCSE courses begin.

Looking at it starkly, KS3 is the last universal opportunity to reach all young people, and so its purpose cannot be simply to prepare young people for GCSEs. It should be the phase where all children are set on a trajectory that opens up choice and opportunity, where strong prior attainment is built upon, and where lower prior attainment doesn’t become baked in.

Source of the problem

Milburn’s review reinforces why this matters. Around six in 10 young people who are Neet have never had a job. Their disengagement did not suddenly begin at 16.

For many, it set in years earlier.

Across the KS3 Alliance, schools are exploring practical questions: how do we build stronger cultures of belonging? How do we connect learning more explicitly to future pathways? And how do we develop confidence and character alongside powerful academic knowledge?

The strongest schools understand that academic success and personal development are not competing priorities. Young people are more likely to engage deeply with learning when they understand its purpose. They are more likely to attend when they feel they belong.

As Milburn’s review develops, I hope it prompts a broader national conversation about where disengagement really begins and what we can do to change that. The White Working Class Inquiry has already taken an important step by recognising that the challenge cannot be solved simply by focusing on qualifications at 16. The years before that deserve equal attention.

We transformed the early years because we recognised that intervening early changes lives. We did the same for reading. The evidence increasingly suggests early adolescence is the next frontier.

Becks Boomer-Clark is CEO of Lift Schools