Which Cheshire schools are best for GCSE results?

LEAGUE tables for secondary schools in Weymouth, Portland and Dorchester have produced a mixed bag of results.

The best achieving school in the Packet circulation area was Camborne Science and International Academy with 67% achieving five or more A* to C GCSEs, including English and Maths.

The number of schools with GCSE results below government “floor targets” and therefore at risk of forced academy conversion fell this year, official figures show.

He added: “This had a significant impact in the overall performance of the academy and if the grade boundaries for English had not been moved affecting a significant number of students, the academy would have attained above the DFE’s 40 per cent benchmark”.

Schools across West Berkshire can breathe a collective sigh of relief this morning (Thursday) with the release of annual performance tables by the Department for Education.

Nancy Gedge, a teacher and expert on special educational needs, has argued that pressures on schools to improve results were contributing to an increase in permanent exclusions. Last year’s grades were the first to be judged only on their first sitting.

Durham High School for Girls was the 167th best performing school in England after 96% of all students achieved grades A* to C including Maths and English.

Secondary schools are classed as being beneath the floor if less than 40 per cent of pupils achieve at least five A* to C grades, including English and maths, and the school’s pupils fail to keep pace with the national average level of progress in both.

In the government’s provisional data, released in October, the national average for GCSEs was said to be 56.1 per cent.

The numbers achieving the EBacc rose from 32 per cent to 36 per cent. Michael Foley, headteacher at The Thomas Hardy School, said he was pleased with the consistency of the results.

Top of the table in the county for the second year was Dodderhill School, in Droitwich, with 95 per cent of its pupils achieving five or more GCSEs at A*-C including English and Maths.

The top school according to the five A* to C, including English and Maths, was Clifton High School, at 94 per cent.

How did your school perform?

GCSE results improved dramatically at Amble’s high school and in Northumberland as a whole in 2015, but there was a drop in performance at Alnwick’s high school.

About one in 10 secondary schools in England – 327 schools – opted in early to Progress 8 this year.

Commenting on their results Richard Wood, head teacher at Mexborough Academy, said: “I’ve been in post at Mexborough Academy since September”.

Three quarters of Southend pupils made progress in English, up almost two percentage points from previous year.

Among the year group of pupils who took their GCSEs in 2015, data is available from 2,913 mainstream state secondary schools, including comprehensives and grammar schools, whether academies or run by local authorities. “But under-performance at any school is unacceptable, and one of the strengths of the free schools programme is that when we spot failure we can act quickly”.