Kent 2016 Final GCSE Tables

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. There are further details of the outcomes below, along with a look at another measure the English Baccalaureate. 

Both Progress 8 and Attainment 8 are measured across eight subjects, English maths, 3 qualifications including sciences, computer science, history, geography and languages, and 3 other additional approved qualifications.  for Progress 8 there is a target national average score of 0, with most schools being between +1 and -1. The government floor standard, or expectation is to be above -0.5, in which case “the school may come under increased scrutiny and receive additional support”.

Other non-selective schools with ‘above average’ progress are: St Anselm's, St George’s CofE Foundation (Broadstairs), St Gregory’s Catholic, King Ethelbert, St George’s CofE (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 (Pent Valley has closed), 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 left mid-term last October, 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. Holmesdale once a good school can have only its self to blame, having not so long ago been a 'Good' school, the Principal unsurprisingly departing suddenly at Christmas.