Students make exceptional progress during their time at the school; the achievement of all age groups is very high. Examination passes in Key Stage 4 and 5 have increased for the fourth successive year and have gone up from 434 in 2008 to 594 in 2009.
Key Stage 3
In 2009, the results of teacher assessment indicate that students in Year 9 made outstanding progress; their achievement was equally outstanding. Almost all students made at least two levels of progress from Key Stage 2 in the three core subjects combined and over 50 per cent made three levels of progress. In the core subjects, progress was slightly better in mathematics and science.
The most recent assessments of students’ progress in the current Year 9 indicate that achievement in 2010 will be at least as high as in 2009. These assessments indicate that similarly high levels of students will have made two levels of progress during the key stage and that around half of all students will have made three levels of progress.
Key Stage 4
In 2009, students' progress and achievement were outstanding. The opportunities to achieve accreditation at GCSE and Entry level were increased which resulted in:
- more students than ever being entered for and gaining a graded result in a wider range of GCSE subjects
- achievement at Entry level in 2009 improved still further from the high achievement of 2008. Accreditation was gained in 18 subjects compared to the 15 in 2008. Over 200 pass grades were achieved; with more students gaining the higher Entry level 3 award than in previous years
- the contextual value added measure for Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 4 were well above the measures achieved in 2008
- all students in the Year 11 cohort including the least able left the school with at least one Entry level qualifications; the majority left with five or more qualifications
- performance exceeded the school’s targets for 2009.
The predictions for students in the current Year 11 indicate that despite the cohort’s lower ability on entry to the school achievement will remain high. The school is confident that all students will leave with an increased number of Entry level qualifications and that the percentages of Entry level 3 (the highest level) will increase in almost all subjects.
Key Stage 5
In 2009, students’ achievement and their progress were very good. In all subjects achievement was higher than in the previous year:
- 25 students gained an Entry level qualification in literacy
- in numeracy, 24 students gained Entry level qualification with over 90 per cent achieving level 2 or 3
- in ICT, 25 students gained an Entry level qualification with over 70 per cent being at level 2 or 3
- students also gained accreditation in ASDAN, independent living skills, skills for working life, healthy living and music
- 11 students gained the Sports Leadership Award at level 1.
Predictions also indicate that achievement and progress at post-16 are set to rise significantly this year. The percentages of students expected to gain Entry level awards and GCSE will be much higher than in previous years.
