Provisional 2016 GCSE Results for Kent

NOTES: The media have not covered this story in general at at the time this article was published,  as they are waiting for government to provide downloadable tables to enable them more  easily carry out the analysis I have completed below. These results are provisional and last year a number of school saw a small improvement in results in the final version published  in December.

This year the long established 5 A*-C GCSE league table including English and maths has gone, to be replaced by two new assessments, Progress 8 and Attainment 8. Both these are measured by an arcane formula combining results in eight curriculum subjects to produce numbers whose meaning and spread is very difficult to comprehend, but enable schools to be placed in an order.

Overall Kent emerges well, although there is a variety of statistics to choose from to suit your case. They are issued at this time to enable families to be better informed when making secondary school choices.

The key measure is Progress 8 (full table here) which looks at progress from the end of primary school to the end of Year 11, comparing pupils to others nationally, who begin from the same starting point, with Kent slightly below average at -0.03, against a National average of -0.02. There is a single floor standard which schools are expected to achieve, which turns out to be -0.5, and eight Kent secondary schools fail to meet this. Highest rated school by this measures is Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar with +0.81, followed by Tonbridge Grammar at +0.76, and Skinners at +0.67. Highest non-selective schools are Bennett Memorial and St Simon Stock, ninth equal at +0.52, followed by Meopham at +0.48.

Attainment 8 (full table here) simply measures what it says, with Kent doing better than average with 50.3, against a National score of 49.8. Here, Kent is above average at 50.3 against a National Average of 49.8., Tonbridge Grammar School leads the way with 76.6, followed by Judd, 74.7 and Tunbridge Wells Girls, 73.7. Highest non selective scores are Bennett, 56.6, Duke of York’s 54.6 and St Simon Stock 53.3. At the other end of the scale there are ten schools below 40.0, which may (but shouldn’t) be compared with the previous government floor standard of 40%.

I am not sure that in Kent, with the grammar schools dominating the top of the table, this proves they necessarily offer better teaching; rather, there is a strong element of – ‘brighter pupils can be stretched further’. I think it no coincidence that the table is dominated by super-selective and West Kent grammar schools. Other high performers are: Folkestone Girls; Dartford Girls; Simon Langton Boys; and Maidstone Girls. 

Other non-selective schools with ‘above average’ progress are: Westlands, St George’s CofE Foundation School (Broadstairs), St Gregory’s Catholic, King Ethelbert, St George’s CofE School (Gravesham), and Valley Park. These all have a higher Progress 8 Measure than fifteen of the grammar schools.  

At the foot of the table, are seven non-selectives who are below the government floor standard and must be concerned at their performance, which may well reflect on teaching and learning. These will be picked up by OFSTED on their next Inspection which will be brought forward, using this measure as a new key standard.  At the foot of the table is Royal Harbour Academy (also at the foot of the Attainment 8 table). Partially this can be blamed on its current situation, having only last year taken in the pupils of the disgraced and now closed Marlowe Academy, for it will still take some time to achieve a single student body. Five other schools also share the bottom end of both tables: Hartsdown, currently making the news with its change of regime tightening up on standards, but with a very high proportion of socially disadvantaged pupils; Pent Valley, now closed because of poor standards; Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey, whose disastrous leadership I have written about frequently, the most recent Principal having jumped ship after a less than glorious reign; New Line Learning Academy, whose Principal is leaving, possibly pushed out by yet another poor set of results; and poor old Swadelands, at the other end of Maidstone, which rarely appears to have anything good to say, and is now being swallowed up by Valley Invicta Academy Trust.