VALE headteachers have welcomed the end of the current system used to judge a school’s performance, as the latest GCSE league tables are released.
The stats published last Thursday (January 21) reveal Prince Henry’s and Pershore High Schools are performing well above the national average, with 70 per cent and 71 per cent of students achieving five or more GCSE’s at A* to C, including Maths and English.
With the national benchmark of 40 per cent, the De Montfort School is now deemed to be ‘under performing,’ with only 32 per cent of it’s students gaining five or more good GCSEs, but the school’s headteacher, Guy Nichols, said under the new system the results would have been above average.
Currently these results are used by the Government to judge how a school is performing.
However, from next year a new system is being brought in which will measure schools on a broader range of subjects and results.
Mr Nichols said: “I think it’s positive the Government is reforming the way the performance of all students are taken into account.
“We were disappointed with the results. The progress figures would have been more positive under the new system.
“We are confident the results will be significantly better this year.”
Prince Henry’s headteacher, Dr Tony Evans, said: “As we look to the new format for league tables, we very much welcome the fact that students will be measured on a broader range of results, and also the progress that they make over time.
“Nevertheless, the league tables do not reflect the differential in funding levels across schools in different parts of the country.
“Worcestershire is a local authority that has been poorly funded for many years and it is therefore a testament to the hard work of teachers and students that performance for the majority of measures in the league tables has been well above the national average.”
Pershore High School’s headteacher, Clive Corbett, said: “At a time of increasing national demand and rigour they have excelled by achieving the school’s best ever GCSE results.
“This is a tribute to their efforts and to the support and guidance offered by our magnificent staff. “Although headline statistics are of interest, behind these statistics lie so many individual success stories.
“I believe that the new system is an improvement since it does measure a school’s performance in a broader range of subjects and, more important still, assesses pupil progress,” he added.
