Principal identifies priorities
Improving maths and English attainment are priorities for a new school principal after league tables released yesterday showed his pupils were not hitting Government targets.
Figures showed 46% of pupils who took GCSEs at the Dukeries College, Ollerton, last summer left with at least five A*-C grades.
However, figures released by the Government yesterday show that if maths and English have to be included, this figure drops to 24%.
This means the school does not hit the Government’s 30% maths and English-inclusive target, which schools must reach by 2012 or face closure, federation, or being turned into an academy.
The new principal, Mr Danny Smith, recently replaced Mr Lewis Walker who retired at the end of the autumn term.
Mr Smith said 46% was the school’s best score, which they were delighted with.
He said: “We recognise that we have to target the five A*-C with English and maths. That needs to improve, and will improve for the next year.”
He said they would be providing support to students who are close to the C grade borderline, and they hoped the earlier intervention would raise attainment.
Mr Smith said they were particularly pleased with the school’s contextual value added score. This compares pupils’ exam results with those of other similar pupils who had similar prior attainment.
Mr Smith said their score meant the Dukeries was ranked 14th out of 55 schools in Nottinghamshire.
Mr Smith added: “I think generally, CVA is the closest thing we have to a fair comparison, because it takes into account the context of the school and the individual performance of students.”
The league tables show many Newark parents are still right to send their children to schools in Lincolnshire. Sir William Robertson School, Welbourn, still out-performs Newark area schools.
All Newark secondary schools are well below the national average, and the Newark High School is among the 190 worst in the country for pupils achieving at least five GCSEs at A* to C grades that include maths and English.
The Magnus Church of England School, Newark, also fails to hit the Government’s 30% maths and English-inclusive target.
The Grove School, Balderton, is among the country’s worst for contextual value added.
Figures given by the schools when GCSE results are released in August take into account a pass rate of five good grades, regardless of whether this includes English and maths.
Sir William Robertson scored 56% at five A*-C overall, but this drops to 42% when maths and English are included. Around 150 children from the Newark area attend the school.
The tables show The Grove School, Balderton, to be the highest achieving in GCSE English and maths of the three Newark area schools.
Its rate drops from 48% to 32% when English and maths are included and it is ranked joint 39th out of 55 Nottinghamshire secondary schools.
Newark High School recorded its best pass rate last year, with 61% of pupils achieving five A*-C or equivalent. However, this drops to 19% when maths and English have to be included in the five. It was joint fifth worst school in the county in joint 51st place.
The acting head, Mr Robin Blackley, said: “The bottom line explanation is that the children we draw come to us with extremely low levels of literacy.
“Although a huge amount of work is put into improving them it is often extremely unlikely we are going to get them to grade C level at year 11.”
He said a Key Skills qualification is offered alongside GCSE English which tested pupils in basic literacy skills such as spelling, grammar and comprehension. He said the pass rate at level two for this qualification was 70%.
He said their value added score was high and above the national average and showed that students progressed very well from entering to leaving the school.
The Magnus school’s scores dropped from 45% overall to 28% when maths and English are included. It was joint 43rd in the county.
The head, Mr Ian Anderson, said the figure for value added gave a more accurate picture of what was being achieved and the Magnus scored well in this.
The Minster School in Southwell continues to be the highest achieving school in the Advertiser area, according to the tables.
Although the pass rate drops from 78% to 68%, the school is the sixth best in Nottinghamshire when maths and English are included.
Southwell Minster school’s sixth form was also the best among schools in the Advertiser area for average points scores for A-level students.
It was ranked the seventh best out of 56 schools and colleges in the Nottinghamshire Learning and Skills Council area.
A-level passes are awarded scores which are used to determine whether candidates are given places on university courses. An A grade receives 120 points, a B 100, a C 80, and a D 60.
The Nottinghamshire average score was 709.2, and the national average was 731.1.
Toot Hill School, Bingham, was 14th with 784.5 and Tuxford School was 16th with 760.
The Grove School, Balderton, was ranked 22nd with a score of 746.3, and Radcliffe Dayncourt School was 27th with 689.5.
The Magnus Church of England School, Newark, was 29th with a score of 673.1. The Dukeries College, Ollerton, was bottom of the group, coming 37th with 634.3.
Advertiser area school pass rates:
GCSE pass rates at five A*-Cs, including maths and English in %, with the schools’ overall pass rate in brackets: Southwell Minster: 68 (78); Tuxford: 57 (73); Toot Hill, Bingham: 57 (68); Radcliffe Dayncourt: 45 (55); Sir William Robertson, Welbourn: 42 (56); Grove: 32 (48); Magnus: 28 (45); Dukeries College, Ollerton: 24 (46); Newark High: 19 (61).
