Once again we are proud to celebrate the success of our all students in their Level 2 (GCSE, Level 1/2 Award and BTEC) and Level 3 (A Level, BTEC and Cambridge Technical) qualifications. Our Year 11 and Sixth Form students have worked extremely hard over the course of two years and as a result of their success they are able to embark upon the next stage in their career, some beginning apprenticeships, some university or college courses and some returning to our Sixth Form.
At Millom School we believe that education goes beyond just exam results, however, we do need to monitor the progress and outcomes of our students and provide information on their attainment and progress using specific performance criteria.
Key Stage 4
Over the last 24 months there have been significant changes in the education landscape, specifically in the ways that the DfE are measuring and reporting on performance at Key Stage 4. The biggest change is concerning the new Progress 8 measure. This measures the difference between a pupil’s estimated attainment, based on their Key Stage 2 scores, and their actual attainment achieved by the end of Year 11. It takes the current year’s national performance data into account. The whole school Progress 8 score is an average of the Year 11 cohort and is calculated after students have taken the exams. The powerpoint available through this link explains what Progress 8 is and how it is calculated: http://www.naht.org.uk/_resources/assets/attachment/full/0/43401.pptx
A second change concerns the different grading system for GCSE English and maths were results have changed from A*-G to 9-1. These changes have a significant impact on our ability to compare data from different Year 11 cohorts. This helpful factsheet from the DfE outlines those key changes to GCSE grading: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/626681/GCSE_Factsheet_parentFormatted1.pdf
In the table below are the headline figures for 2017. Parents and carers are also encouraged to visit the Department for Education’s Performance Tables, which can be found on its web site with the link provided in the statutory information tab of the school website. Please note, however, that the data displayed in the DfE’s performance tables has not been updated to take successful re-marks of GCSE exam papers into account. This information will not be released publically until January 2018. However, the school is provisionally calculating that Progress 8 will improve to -0.08 and the percentage of students achieving grade 4+ in English and maths will be 68.3%. Note that the percentage of students achieving 9-5 or 9-4 in GCSE English and maths cannot easily be compared to last year due to the change in the grading system. For the table below, the school’s 2017 result for English and maths 4+ (standard pass) has been displayed with a comparison to A*-C in 2016. Note that the E-Bacc measure for Millom School is low because our curriculum model does not make it mandatory for students to study a GCSE in a modern foreign language. We currently give our students the option to study languages (French) at GCSE.
| Measure | School 2017 | School 2016 | National | Local Authority |
| Progress 8 | -0.11 | -0.29 | n/a | n/a |
| Attainment 8 | 47.4 | 48.37 | 44.2 | 45.9 |
| % achieving grade 5+ in English and maths | 49% | n/a | 39.1% | 41.5% |
| % achieving grade 4+ in English and maths | 67% | 68% | 63.3% | 65.2% |
| % entered for the E-Bacc | 1% | 9% | 34.9% | 33.2% |
| % achieving the E-Bacc at grades 5+ | 1% | 9% | 19.5% | 17.7% |
Key Stage 5
The table below shows our headline figures for the Sixth Form. Please note that this information is sourced from the DfE’s performance tables website and includes ‘add-back’ students, which are students who completed courses in previous academic years but who were not included in performance measures at that time. For example, in 2016-17, our Year 13 cohort was 25 students but on the performance tables the cohort size is 32. The add-back students have a significant impact upon the figures presented in the performance tables, but due to DfE ruling, schools are unable to remove these students from being included in the measures.
Performance measures are broken down to Academic (A-level programmes only) and Applied General (BTEC and Cambridge Technical programmes).
| Measure | Progress |
Average Grade |
| School | Cumbria | England |
| Academic | -0.53 | D | C | C+ |
| Applied General | +0.09 | Dist- | Dist | Dist |
With the add-back students removed, the Year 13 cohort of academic year 2016-17 achieved the following:
- Pass rate (%A*-E) of all A-level entries = 87.3% (improved from 81% 2015-16)
- High grades rate (%A*-B) of all A-level entries = 34.2% (improved from 18% 2015-16)
- Average grade = D+ (an improvement on D last year)
- 56% achieved 3 or more A-levels or equivalent; 80% achieved 2 or more A-levels of equivalent; 92% achieved 1 or more A-levels or equivalent