THE Prime Minister has singled out a secondary school in Cheshunt for praise as he extolled the virtues of allowing teachers more freedom, and pledged to expose “coasting” schools. Mr Cameron pointed to Goffs School’s surge in exam results as an example for others to follow in a national newspaper. He said: “When people involved in education can see what needs to be done to get out of a rut – and are given the freedom to make their own choices, rather than take orders from above – dramatic improvement is possible. “Goffs School in Cheshunt, for instance, went from barely half its pupils achieving five good GCSEs, including English and Maths, to almost three quarters in a single year.” The PM contrasted Goffs with schools that are “tolerating second best” and unveiled plans to release anonymous individual pupil performance figures to track progress and schools’ spending data from June next year, to shame schools that are not doing enough to drive up results. Richard Tutt, deputy headteacher at Goffs said: “This is fantastic recognition for all the hard work undertaken by the students, staff and governors at Goffs and everyone is thrilled. Our staff and governors have been absolutely committed to bringing out the best in every child.” He said that the school had undergone a “transformation” and won national awards as a result. However, he attributed the success more to methods such as tracking student progress against aspirational targets and effective interventions rather than the freedom of gaining academy status. Mr Tutt added: “Whilst this transformational work started prior to Goffs converting to academy status, the school has embraced and is very excited about the opportunities and freedoms offered through academy conversion to provide even greater success for students.”