Skip to content ↓

Results 2017

 

      

Please use the links to the left to view result data.

Reflections on the DFE Performance tables 2017 (Published in January 2018)

Each year the Department for Education publish ‘Performance Tables’ for both KS2 (Year 6), KS4 (Year 11) and A Level (Year 13) performance for each school in England. The tables can be found here:  https://www.gov.uk/school-performance-tables

These provide a vast amount of data about the performance of each school and groups of students within schools. They include key ‘Headline Measures’, as well as the ability to look in more depth at the subtleties of a school’s performance.

The measures used by the DFE have changed over the last couple of years and the impact of these changes is only just becoming apparent. Also, as each school knows, every year group has its own ‘peculiarities’ and these are rarely shown in the headline measures. A good example is Dene Magna’s Year 11 in 2017, where the cohort consisted of 98 boys and 46 girls!

2017 was the first year that the new grading system was used for English and Maths GCSEs. Other GCSEs will move to this format for 2018 and the final few in 2019. The Progress 8 score is based around a score of 0.00. Achieving a P8 score of 0.00 means that the students, on average, meet their ‘Attainment 8 targets’. A positive P8 score shows that the school has a positive progress measure across all the subjects studied.

Dene Magna Headlines:

Progress 8 Score: +0.08 (this includes a student who did not sit any exams. If removed Dene Magna’s P8 is +0.11)

Attainment 8 Score: 46.3

5+ Basics (GCSE Grade 5+ in English and Maths): 40%

4+ Basics (GCSE Grade 4+ (equivalent to old GCSE grade C)): 72%

If we look at the Secondary Schools in Gloucestershire we get an interesting picture. If we rank all schools, including the Grammar schools, by Prior Attainment (at KS2) we see that students, when they arrived at Dene Magna, were 30th out of 39 Schools. If we use Attainment 8 as an equivalent measure at the end of KS4 then Dene Magna were 19th. This movement of 11 places is the most movement of any school in County.

If we look at the 4+ Basics measure (which is the closest to the old 5+A*-C inc English and Maths) Dene Magna moved from 30th to 14th (16 places). Again this was the most movement in the county. The pattern is also repeated with 5+ Basics, where Dene Magna moves from 30th to 18th (12 places).

Therefore, in the three key measures of performance Dene Magna has the most positive impact on its cohort of any school in the county.

On top of this after we remove the Grammar schools from the list, Dene Magna’s P8 puts it at 5th in the County. Furthermore, without our ‘ghost student’ we would have been 3rd. These are outcomes for which all of us can be extremely proud.

As you can imagine we pour over the information in great detail. Each day we constantly work to and ensure that each learner achieves their maximum potential. Using the data allows us to reflect on what worked last year. If it has worked in the past we will do it again, if it did not have any impact then we will try something else. We still have areas to work on. We have aspirations for all students to achieve and are disappointed that our Pupil Premium students are not yet achieving at the level of other students. This is a challenge for us and one that we are working hard to improve on.

For the coming year we have set challenging targets for the Year 11 Cohort. They have responded well in their trial exams and we have a clear focus on how we can move each learner on to achieve their own challenging expectations. Parents/carers have been very supportive and challenging, they understand all too well how critical this time is. Attendance at revision sessions is excellent and we see a real sense of purpose and determination within each and every lesson.

Our next ‘Cheese and Wine’ event for Year 11 Parents/Carers is on Thursday March 8th. Our focus here will be on target students and the final push for revision and planning. Please put the date in your diary now and we look forward to seeing you all.