Parents of pupils at Court Fields School, Wellington and those with children in its feeder schools can see how well it is performing in comparison with other secondary schools in the area now that figures released by the Department for Education (DfE) have been published.
The table below shows performance in 4 elements – Progress 8, Attainment 8, GCSE grades and achievement in the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) compared to 7 other local secondary state schools. Courtfields is outperformed by 5 according to Progress 8 criteria, is 4th according to Attainment 8, 3rd highest for GCSE A to C grades in English and maths and 3rd equal in the percentage of pupils achieving the EBacc.
A newly introduced system of assessment – Progress 8 – measures performance over eight key subjects in schools across the country. The subjects are assigned points at GCSE to make up pupils’ overall scores. These are then compared with the scores of pupils achieving the same level in primary school tests. The aim is to identify schools which are helping all pupils to achieve a benchmark level of progress instead of simply focusing on high-flying pupils whose performance might previously have elevated a school’s position in league tables.
A negative progress score does not mean pupils have made no progress, or the school has failed, but it means pupils in the school made less progress than other pupils across England with similar results at the end of key stage 2.
The school’s Attainment 8 score is the average of all students’ grades in GCSE exams across eight core academic subjects – including English and maths – at the end of Year 11. The eight subjects lead to the English Baccalaureate (EBacc). To achieve an EBacc pupils must score a C grade or above in each subject. Students don’t have to take eight subjects, but they score zero for any unfilled slots.
A spokesperson for Somerset County Council said: “The Secondary League Tables for 2016 show strong performance by Somerset’s young people and schools. Somerset’s Progress 8 score, which measures progress that students make from the end of primary school to the end of secondary school, was the highest in the South West. It places the county in the top third of local authorities nationally. This is a great success and is testament to the hard work of students, teachers and school leaders.”
At secondary school level, The Castle School and Heathfield School head the table with positive Progress 8 scores (ie those higher than the national average) and 80 per cent of pupils obtaining grade A*-C in English and Maths.
Court Fields scored -0.01 below the national average according to the Progress 8 measurement, although 69 per cent of students achieved grades A*-C in English and maths.