Peterborough education chiefs pleased with city schools' progress as GCSE tables are released

Cllr John Holdich, Cabinet member for Education, Skills and University with Nene Park Academy pupils Serena Edgar, 13, Josh Stevenson, 12, with (back l-r), Principal Steve Howard, Mark Woods, following a good OFSTED report ENGEMN00120131012165859

In the new measure of “Progress 8”, a measure of how much improvement students have made between the ages of 11 and 16, Peterborough’s outcome is spot on the national average, with city schools ranked exactly halfway in the national rankings.

The number of students at city secondary schools achieving five or more good (A* to C) GCSE grades remained consistent in 2016, with 49 per cent of students gaining a good range of GCSE passes, equal to 2015 performance.

The number of students achieving good (A* to C) GCSE results in both English and mathematics rose by two per cent to 55 per cent in 2016.

There was an improvement by six per cent to 70 per cent in the proportion of students gaining a good GCSE grade in English.

Councillor John Holdich, leader of the council and cabinet member for education, skills and university, said: “I’m pleased to see these improved results in the key subjects of English and mathematics, and in the good performance of schools in terms of the amount of progress made by their students.

“When it comes to the progress made by students between the ages of 11 and 16, the average score for Peterborough is exactly the same as the national average. A number of our maintained schools, including Jack Hunt and St John Fisher, have performed particularly well in this regard.

“This is a crucial measure for the city, given the starting points of students when they begin secondary school. The scoring reflects the amount of work put in by our schools into ensuring that every student is supported to achieve the qualifications they need.

“The improvements made in GCSE results for English and mathematics put our young people in a good position for the next stage of their education.

“The challenge for us all in this school year, when the government is looking to introduce a new method of scoring examinations, is to at least maintain this good performance in terms of progress and to further improve levels of attainment.

“I am quite sure that our schools will rise to this challenge, and we will continue to work closely with them as we want our results to continue to progress year on year.”

Julie Taylor, Chief Executive Officer of the TDA Education Trust, and chair of the Peterborough Partnership of Secondary Schools, said: “Peterborough headteachers have welcomed the new Progress 8 measure as it encourages schools to offer a good curriculum and allows them to focus on every student and their achievements. The fact that Peterborough’s outcome is exactly at the national average shows how hard the city’s schools are working to improve standards and we are confident that we will see standards rise further in the future.”