Gcses. The gap between independent schools /grammar and vs comprehensive and across England. Should progress 8 try to push more students into targets of 7-9 gcses? Are local secondary schools doing enough to stretch higher ability pupils?

All children should have the opportunity to use their potential, yes.

FFT5 is the score expected if your child was attending one of the top 5% performing schools in the country. And the targets generated from that at the beginning of Y10 are different to the ones regenerating them (from CAT4 scores this year, as there was no KS2 data - it's more accurate and inclusive in any case, as not all children take SATs) about a month and a half ago, as the DfE changed their methods of calculating progress due to the previous version being based upon pre-Covid cohort data and qualifications.

Where a kid has taken SATs, that is the base for the DfE expected progress. So somebody who scored an average of 111+ between reading and maths would have negative Progress 8 if they did not average x grade in their 8 best subjects. It is therefore not in a school's interest to 'not push' both higher and lower baseline students - especially as any number of things can happen, such as illness, disability, home circumstances, that means some are unable to reach their expected average due to non attendance, reduced timetables, not taking the minimum number of exams.

Our comprehensive pushes all the kids. They’ve just had 49% 9-7 and 82% 5-9. My child got 3x9 4x9 and 2x7 and didn’t even make the list of high performers.

But kids like your DD will always do well academically.
Children who are below 3 or SEN will need a bit more heplp to achieve the pass mark which is a 4. Why would you deny these children something so basic?
School budgets are stretched, there are not enough very good teachers to go around.

Why should only the higher ability kids be pushed?

I think you are right. We are rural and the only comp near us (our catchment school) teaches all mixed ability groups (including for maths) up to end of Y9. There’s no way that the ability extremes can be effectively catered for in this scenario. My bright DD was thoroughly bored at primary school and it looked like several more years of the same scenario at secondary school. We are not an high income family and could in no way afford for her to go private. Luckily, DD is very bright and achieved a place at a grammar school about half an hour away. I feel sorry for kids who have no option but our local state school. All the emphasis is on SEN and kids who are 3 - 4 GCSE borderline.

It seems there’s a big gap between comprehensive schools in different areas of the country. London tends to do better than other areas. The country needs to understand why that is and see if the same can be created in other areas.

We are in (suburban) London and our son is doing very well at the local comprehensive.

My 16yr old just got mainly 9s, some 8’s and a 7 for their GCSEs in a “good” state secondary. He loves his school and is mixing with a wide range of kids from different backgrounds and cultures. So he’s happy, confident and great at relating to most people, whoever they are.

Our comp pushed all kids, whether top, middle or lower sets. They did everything in your bullet list.