Figures reveal the schools making the grade in Halton
WADE Deacon led the pack as the best performing high school in Halton according to the number of pupils with grades A*-C including in maths and English in 2016.
More than three quarters (76%) of its GCSE students achieved at least a C grade in those two key subjects, ahead of Ormiston Chadwick Academy, also Widnes, on 69%.
Ormiston Bolingbroke Academy had the highest score in Runcorn on 63%, ahead of The Heath on 61%.
Saints Peter And Paul Catholic College in Widnes was in fifth place on 57%, followed by Saint Chad’s Catholic And Church Of England High School in Runcorn on 52% and The Grange, also Runcorn, on 44%,
The average rate for all schools in England was 59%, with the average for state schools only standing at 63%.
Only Wade Deacon and Ormiston Chadwick scored better than both types of average.
Ormiston Chadwick, which opened following the demise of The Bankfield, was the top-performing school according to the Government’s ‘Attainment 8’ score, which measures GCSE performance across a mix of eight approved qualifications including three from the English Baccalaureate.
The academy scored an Attainment 8 score of 56.7, ahead of Wade Deacon on 54.4.
In Runcorn, The Heath took the town’s top spot with a score of 50.9.
Saints Peter And Paul Catholic College was in fourth place on 49.9, followed by Ormiston Bolingbroke with a score of 47.9, then The Grange on 45.2. ●
England’s average Attainment 8 score was 48.5 and the state school average was 49.9, putting Runcorn schools Ormiston Bolingbroke and The Grange below average for the Attainment 8 score.
Using the Department For Education’s (DfE) new ‘Progress 8’ measure, Ormiston Chadwick ranked as the school where pupils make the most progress after leaving primary.
Wade Deacon was in second place, followed by Saints Peter And Paul, The Heath, Ormiston Bolingbroke, St Chad’s and The Grange.
Helsby High School, where some pupils from Runcorn attend, achieved an A*-C maths and English rate of 71%, an Attainment 8 score of 54.8, and pupils made ‘ average’ progress after joining from primary school with Helsby ranking behind Ormiston Chadwick and Wade Deacon but ahead of Saints Peter And Paul and the other schools.
The results were published following an overhaul of the way the Government assesses schools GCSE performance and the National Union Of Teachers (NUT) questioned the reliability of measures.
Kevin Courtney, NUT general secretary, said: “The NUT congratulates schools on withstanding the effects of cuts and teacher shortages to achieve results that demonstrate a rise in student attainment at GCSE.
“But it would be a mistake to think the DfE’s new progress measures, Progress ● 8, are a trustworthy measure of progress.
“Research by King’s College London, published by the NUT, shows the vast majority of teachers question the validity of Progress 8.
“Key Stage 2 results for 11-year-olds do not provide a reliable benchmark from which to measure progress to the age of 16.
“KS2 tests are not just narrowly based, but notoriously unreliable. Yet this benchmark is being used to hold schools accountable.” ●