UPDATED: The Isle of Wight’s executive member for children’s services, Councillor Jonathan Bacon is congratulating students across the Island for their performance in their GCSE examinations.
National performance measures have changed this year with new measures being introduced by the Government. On the Government’s new performance measure of Attainment 8, the initial reports suggest that schools on the Isle of Wight appear to compare favourably with national averages and in some cases, have improved significantly – against the national trend of a decline in results. The national figures will be released next term.
Councillor Bacon said:
“I am delighted to see that so many the Island’s 15 and 16 year olds have done well in their GCSEs. These young people should be commended for their achievement – demonstrating that their effort and hard work has paid off. The support of parents and the work of teachers in helping students to do well should not go unrecognised either, and I’m sure they are proud of the students’ attainment.”
“I wish those now leaving secondary education every success as they move on to study for A-levels, achieve vocational qualifications, or start an apprenticeship. They now have the opportunity to build on their GCSE success and develop their skills that they can obtain the best qualifications possible.”
Commenting on the early GCSE result data, Councillor Chris Whitehouse (Newport West Ward), the Conservative Education Spokesman, says:
“The results are a mixed bag. Preliminary reports in the media suggest that some high schools have done really well and improved on previous years. Others hover around the level of previous attainments, and some, it may transpire, have done even less well than in the past. When we have the final data in a few months’ time we will be able to focus on the problem areas for delivery and hopefully deliver the across the board improvement that all our students deserve.
“Overall data for the Island as a whole is largely meaningless because it conceals the variation in the performance of individual schools. What should matter to parents, students and teachers alike is whether or not each child in our schools has achieved their full potential, and, frankly, we are a long way from achieving that outcome. What’s important, though, is that teachers, headteachers, parents, students and councillors of all parties are continuing to work to achieve overall improvements for every child in our schools. That is the real challenge.
Article continues below this advertisement “In the meantime, I can only congratulate all our students who did their best in their exams. If any student feels they were let down in the way they were prepared for these crucial tests, then I would ask them please to let me know how and why they think that happened. We need to learn from any mistakes that have been made to improve our service to our youngsters in the future. A new Conservative administration, if elected next May, will not settle for second best when it comes to education standards.”
UPDATE @ 13:45 – On the new ‘Basics Standard’, schools on the Island are reporting that 53% of students attained at least a C grade in English and mathematics combined. There is currently no national comparator data available.
On the Government’s new performance measure of Attainment 8, the initial reports suggest that schools on the Isle of Wight appear to have secured a combined figure of 4.5. Early indications are that this should compare favourably with national averages. Those national figures will be released next term.
Although 5A*-C including English and mathematics is no longer counted in performance tables, taken collectively schools and academies are reporting that results have remained static overall at around 48%. This is pleasing as it goes against the national trend of a fall in the level of achievement. It is down to individual schools to release an analysis of their results.
Around 1,270 students on the Isle of Wight sat their Key Stage 4 (KS4) examinations this summer.
When the official results are published later in the autumn, schools will also be judged against some new performance measures, including the progress children have made in a suite of 8 subjects.
