Hundreds of secondary schools missing targets

The majority of high schools in Manchester did see a slight increase in their average GCSE pass rate compared to provisional results.

Yes. From next year, schools in England will be measured on what is known as Progress 8.

Today’s figures show, converter academies outperformed the national average by 7.2 percentage points, with 64.3 per cent of pupils achieving at least five GCSEs at 5 A*-C including English and maths.

For a full round up of all of the district’s secondary schools and all of the local reaction pick up a copy of this week’s Newbury Weekly News on sale today.

Six schools in Doncaster and three in Barnsley also all failed to reach the 40 per cent target for last year’s results – but every school in Rotherham managed to make the grade.

This year, schools were given the option to “opt in” for Progress 8 and 327 schools (around 10%) took this up.

From September a new system, Progress 8, will be used for all schools.

The figures also highlight the progress made by pupils since they left primary school, based on the percentage of pupils making three levels of progress during their time at secondary school.

Previous year several head teachers at schools with high proportions of pupils close to the C/D borderline said they had been the hardest hit by the reforms.

Last month education chiefs in the borough announced they were setting up crunch talks with headteachers in a bid to combat the failings of Sandwell’s secondary schools.

A total of 188 under-performing schools are academies, the analysis shows, while 50 are council-run schools, 45 are foundation schools, 14 are voluntary-aided and the others include university technical colleges, studio schools and further education colleges catering to 14 to 16-year-olds.

Tapton School in Crosspool, which is an academy, was the best-performing state school in the city, with an 82 per cent success rate.

Mr Ellis said: “Unfortunately the grade boundaries for a grade C in IGCSE English moved significantly and this had a disproportionate affect on the results of the students at York High”.

Image copyright Thinkstock Image caption Primary school accountability focuses on the “3Rs” What is considered to be acceptable performance at primary level?

There were just 20 free schools with pupils who sat GCSE past year (pictured above).

Clicking on an individual school’s name brings up more detailed information, including; the percentage of pupils achieving 5 or more A*-C grades or equivalents including A*-C in both English and mathematics, the percentage of pupils achieving 5+ A*-C or equivalents, the percentage of Key Stage 4 pupils achieving the English Baccalaureate (Ebacc) and the average point score. “This shows the transformation which can occur thanks to the support and expertise of a strong sponsor”.

Many independent and state schools score zero (or very low scores) if they enter all or most pupils for alternative qualifications that are not accredited by the Government.