Oxfordshire Schools ‘Must improve’

OXFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL has issued the following statement, following the publication of school’s ‘league tables.’
“The latest achievement and attainment tables for GCSEs and A levels, published today, show that Oxfordshire schools have made some progress since 2006.
“The number of students achieving five or more grades at A*-C in Oxfordshire has increased to 57.4 per cent when compared to last year’s figure of 56.6 per cent.

“The proportion of students performing well based on the tougher measure of 5 A*-C grades, including English and maths, is 48.1 per cent, which is 1.4 percentage points above the figure for all schools nationally, including the independent sector (46.7 per cent).

“Bartholomew and John Mason schools both demonstrated significant improvement on their performance in relation to this measure, moving from 63 per cent to 73 per cent and 45 per cent to 57 per cent respectively.”

Contextually Value Added scores
“Contextually Value Added (CVA) scores provide a more meaningful measure of the difference schools make, being a measure of progress made by pupils between joining the school and GCSEs.

“On the basis of this measure two Oxfordshire schools, Cheney and the Cherwell, are in the top 25 per cent of all schools nationally.

“The county council’s Cabinet Member for School Improvement, Councillor Michael Waine, said: “A few of our schools have demonstrated great progress in terms of Contextual Value Added results.
“Similarly, some schools have made great improvements on last year’s performance, such as Bartholomew and John Mason.
“There have also, of course, been great examples of individual student success.”
“However, while, overall our GCSE performance more or less follows the national pattern we must and will perform better than average.
“At A level the pattern is similar and while there are some great examples of individual pupil and school success, the overall position is less than satisfactory and we should, again, be seeking performance which exceeds national averages.

“Oxfordshire county schools can and must improve.”