Medway Schools A Level Performance 2019

 Whilst I do not normally mention private schools, one of my main advertisers is Rochester Independent College, the only Medway School with Above Average Progress at A Level, with a specialisation in picking up students who have underperformed elsewhere at GCSE. It has the second highest Grade per entry in Medway, with the largest Sixth Form of 114 students taking three A Levels. 

Waterfront UTC (previously Medway UTC) had none of its 36 Year 13 students taking any A Levels, as they would all have taken vocational courses. I have also omitted Greenacre as its three A Level cohort is too small to report on. It shares a sixth form with Walderslade Girls School.

It is not easy to make comparative judgements in Attainment at this level as schools vary so much in the pattern of their intake into Year 12. I therefore consider that the Progress score is the more important measure. The two measures may be a useful contribution to decisions on where to follow one's studies, taking into account the other factors that impinge upon performance.

However, in Medway, there is an average loss of 14% across the six schools from Year 11 to Year 12, with Chatham Grammar losing an astonishing 34% of its Year 11 pupils, arguably  a less poor performance than 2018’s 37%. However, not for the first time the failure to hold on to its students into the Sixth Form will raise questions about the school's viability. Holcombe lost 22%, and surprisingly Rainham Mark 20%, up from 16% in 2018. It is not possible to identify non-selective schools with similar problems because of the range of one and two year courses they may offer.

The big question is where do all these students go, as they are clearly not transferring to other local grammar schools?

Three years ago, I exposed the national scandal of schools forcing students out at the end of Year 12, to improve A Level performance. This began with Invicta Grammar in Maidstone, and went nationwide, as the practice was established to be illegal, and numbers dropped dramatically. Invicta saw 26 students leave during Year 12 in the first half of 2017, 15% of the total, but just one student left in 2019, reason unknown.

In 2017, Holcombe Grammar lost an astonishing 22% of its Year 12 roll in 2017, rising to 30% in 2018, but still appears not to have noticed the rules with 15% of its 101 Year 12s departing in 2019, nearly 50% of its total roll not finishing the course. Perhaps they were all disillusioned with what was on offer and simply withdrew from the school and their A  Level course, so there was no encouragement from the school. Rainham Mark lost 9%, but travelling in the reverse direction Chatham Grammar actually picked up two students, its one bright spot.