City’s schools in top 50 of key new government performance table

Secondary school students in Brighton & Hove are making better progress than in most other areas of the country.

The government’s new benchmark measure of school performance at GCSE level (Key Stage 4) is now the amount of progress students make between when they start secondary school in Year 7 and when they finish their GCSEs at the end of Year 11. This statistic is called Progress 8.

Brighton & Hove is in the top third nationally of councils at this key new measure, rated 50th out of 151 local authorities.

Another new government measure of academic performance looks at the average achievement of students across eight qualifications, including Maths and English. This measure is called Attainment 8.

Brighton & Hove is in the top half of councils for Attainment 8, ranking 64th out of 151 local authorities.

Brighton & Hove is currently in the top third of councils in terms of the number of students achieving five or more GCSE grades A*-C. However, the Department for Education is phasing out using this as its key measure of school performance.

The chair of Brighton & Hove City Council’s children, young people and skills committee, Councillor Tom Bewick, said:

“I agree with most educational professionals that Progress 8 is a better measure of overall school performance throughout the five-year secondary phase than simply looking at the end product of GCSE results.

“There is still plenty of room for improvement, but we’re doing well and I’m convinced we’re heading in the right direction.

“GCSE results are of course still very important, and our schools are increasingly collaborating with each other and with the council’s education team to share best practice and drive forward further improvements.”

The following DfE weblinks are useful in understanding their new performance measures:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IAEgFMSGDY

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/gcse-and-equivalent-results-2015-to-2016-provisional