New changes in secondary school league tables reveal Kent ‘below average’

by Devina Serebour

Latest government measures have shaken up the way student attainment is recorded in this year’s league tables. The Department of Education released league tables for secondary schools in England for 2015-16.

The government have introduced Progress 8 and Attainment 8. The former replacing the previous indictor that shows the number of pupils achieving five or more GCSEs at A* to C. Attainment 8 is about the raw results of each pupils across eight subjects.

These new measures mean 282 secondary schools in England are deemed to be failing by the government. Last year, under the old measures 312 schools were considered to be failing.

The changes also mean that this year’s results cannot be compared with previous years because this is the first year that the performance of schools and pupils have been measured under the new system.

The Department of Education says the new measures present a clearer picture of how well schools in England are performing.

However, some organisations believe the new school performance system is imperfect.

Malcolm Trobe, interim general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “We are concerned that schools are being judged on circumstances outside of their control. We are pressing the government to address this flaw in the Progress 8 system as a matter of urgency.”

Secondary schools in Kent and Medway have often seen a mixed bag of results as a county. The introduction of Progress 8 means that this year’s leagues tables have shown that Kent as a whole is marginally below the national average, with a score of -0.04 compared to the national score of 0.03. However in Medway, secondary schools exceeded the national average by 0.5.

Councillor Andrew Mackness, portfolio holder for Children’s Services in Medway said: “I’m very supportive of any judgement or scales that ensure schools take a broad picture in understanding of how young people progress at school.

“A pure focus on GCSE and A-level results cannot be the only way we ensure that pupils’ have reached their full potential when some people develop later in life. Exam results are not the only barometer of progress for young people.”

Tonbridge Grammar School is the best performing school in Kent in 2016 with 100% of pupils achieving A* to C grade in both English and Maths. Also, pupils at the school are making good progress with a Progress 8 score of 0.75.

Head teacher Rosemary Joyce said: “We are pleased that the new government measures recognise our school not only for its overall outstanding academic achievement but also for the exceptional progress our students make, reflecting individual success stories and highlighting the support we give them.”

Overall, 95% of pupils at this school passed the English Baccalaureate, which is well above the national average.

What is Progress 8?

Progress 8 measures the performance of a school by looking at the progress of its pupils. It looks at where the pupil started from primary school and where they have ended up at the end of secondary school. This means that pupils are being compared to other pupils who started out with the same attainment.

Progress 8 scores generally fall somewhere between -1 and 1. The number is then placed into one of five bands: well above average, above average, average, below average and well below average.

What is Attainment 8?

Attainment 8 measures the achievement of a pupil across eight qualifications: maths (double weighted), English (double weighted), three English Baccalaureate (EBacc) subjects and three other subjects.

These results are then compared against the results of other pupils who came into secondary schools nationally with the same attainment levels – to get the Progress 8 score. The greater the score, the greater the progress made by a pupil compared to the average of pupils with similar prior attainment.