Maximising KS4 Achievement Raising Achievement Partnership Programme An HPSS RAPP school LITTLE HEATH SCHOOL 30 September 2009 Browns Courtrooms London

Raising Achievement Partnership Programme Mixed Comprehensive school on the outskirts of Reading students Over 400 students in the Sixth Form (doubled in size since 2002) Little Heath SchoolOFSTED Report February 2009Grade: 1 (Outstanding) Little Heath School provides an outstanding education for its students. What is truly striking about the school is its exemplary care, guidance and support which underpin the outstanding personal development of its students. The school promotes opportunities for all learners. There is a positive ethos, successfully encouraging students to think of their learning as a continuous journey from the age of 11 to 18 and beyond. Students leave exceptionally well prepared for life after Little Heath School. LITTLE HEATH SCHOOL

This is not Soweto It’s Little Heath School

.. a motley collection of huts …decaying flat-tops …haphazardly spread over a hillside CONDITION It’s not about our site & buildings!

It’s about us!!! GCSE RESULTS DAY AUGUST 2009

What was our ‘trigger’? An unexpected and unwelcome dip at 5+A*-C in 2007 led to an Action Plan within the SDP aimed at maximising attainment at 5+A*-C and 5+A*-C including English and Mathematics. We have consequently significantly raised standards of attainment in 2008 and 2009.

COMPARISON WITH A huge rise at A* - B in 2008 & (06:904; 07:941; 08:1221: 09:1168) B became our modal grade in 2008 and sustained in Huge reduction in D grades in 2008! An increase in 2009 but a reduction in F/G. Year*AB CDEFGUXTotal

Percentage of Age Group Achieving 5 or more A* - C grades

BASELINE DATA An obvious question: did these improved results drop into our lap because of a sharp rise in the ability of the students? Potential from KS Low Below Average Above High KS2-4 CVA National Percentile 3152 Fewer high ability students in 2009

Our Critical Success Factors Leadership - highly focused team responsible for strategic planning through Year Group Strategy Meetings Monitoring of progress and intervention where required – the smart / effective use of data Assertive mentoring for our ‘key marginal’ students Positive ethos: aspirational (both with our students and their parents) and expect them to follow suit Coursework catch-up ‘club’ D to C poster campaign Carefully structured ‘Aim Higher’ revision programme during the examination season

Raising Aspirations Key to our improved results has been raising the aspirations and standards of achievement of students who joined the school with low and below average KS2 results, gained modest Y7 CAT test results and / or were assessed as band D by the Y10 Yellis test.

Phoning home on GCSE Results Day 2009 Phoebe is ringing home to celebrate achieving 6B and 5Cs. The CAT test result (Mean SAS = 86) suggested 2A*-C.

Outstanding Achievement! Name 5A*-C inc E&M A*-AA*-CCAT SAS CAT Estimated A* - C Progress CAT to GCSE Phoebe Y Jessica Y Adeyinka Y Zain Y Sonya Y Chanelle Y Amelia N Elizabeth Y Chelsea Y George Y Steph Y

GCSE Results Day 27 August 2009

Daniel – ‘Below’ 3Bs and 6Cs (CAT 87) Vanessa – ‘Below’ 5Bs and 6Cs (CAT 95) Vanessa – ‘Below’ 6Cs (CAT 87) Lizzie – ‘Below’ 1A*, 3As, 7Bs and 1C (CAT 93) David – ‘Low’ 5Cs (CAT 83)

Outstanding Achievement! These students all gained at least 5 higher passes from modest KS2 results!! NameKS2 Point Score Academic Potential from KS2 5A*-C inc E&M A*-C David18.32LowN5 Kirstin22.38LowN7 Lauren23.16BelowY10 Bryony23.44BelowN8 Lizzie23.82BelowY11 Nicole24.26BelowN6 Daniel24.62BelowN9 Ashleigh24.68BelowN8 Samuel24.70BelowN9 Naomi24.74BelowY8 Khayrul24.74BelowY9 Rosie25.02BelowN9 Amelia25.04BelowN11 Bethanie25.16BelowN10 Vanessa25.48BelowY11

Strategic Intervention At the heart of our intervention policy is the smart use of data Through the strategic analysis of data we aim to: 1.Ensure no child can be invisible 2.Work towards data-driven school transformation

SetKS2 Finegrade Potential A*ABCDEFGStudents 10A1High Above2338 Average11114 Low112 10A1 Total ClassKS2 Finegrade Potential A*ABCDEFGStudents 10D1High211 4 Above224 Average Low11 10D1 Total KS2 Finegrades – a simple tracking mechanism End of Y10 Predicted GCSE grades

Strategy Meetings at Little Heath School For each year group any new data, either sent to school (such as KS2 Fine grade scores, CAT test results, FFT estimates etc) or any new data recorded by teachers during a ‘recording window’, is meticulously analysed by the Assessment team. The analysis is discussed at Year Group Strategy Meetings by that year group’s Intervention team.

Our HPSS RAPP work As part of our commitment to HPSS RAPP we are working with 2 National Challenge schools and 2 Gaining Ground schools I lead on this work and in each school have looked for ways in which to evolve similar strategies that are responsive to their circumstances.

Strategic Intervention The analysis and interpretation of data enables the school, the teachers and the tutors see where a strategic intervention is needed: –a department which is under-achieving –a student who is now working less effectively –a student who requires support in order to achieve significant national standards e.g. 5+ A* - C at GCSE (including English & Mathematics) Help me! I’m slipping

From Analysis To Action The analysis of recorded data enables form tutors, Heads of Year, Key Stage Leaders and the Leadership team to have effective oversight of student attainment, attitude to learning and progression. It enables the school to be interventionist and supportive with students and to inform and involve the parents in the process of raising achievement. It also facilitates target-setting.

We make Technology help As part of their DATA ENABLER package the SSAT have developed a simple resource that enables you to show either GCSE results or mock results or predicted grades or FFT estimated grades in a VENN diagram. Using this you can visualise the National Challenge We use this at Little Heath and I also use this with our HPSS RAPP partners It enables swift identification of those students who will not gain 5+A*-C including English & Maths (and why) It’s free at

Students currently expected to gain 5Cs but NOT expected to gain a C in English Language 5% Surname ForenameEn La MaA*-CD Canoodle TaraDC56 Endeavour CiriDC72 Ford ThomasDC62 Perfect KatieDC54 Tubb JamesDC64 Succeeding with these students would add 5% to the current 5+ A* - C including English and Mathematics predicted figure of 25%. Exemplar – Start of Y11 Intervention

Students expected to gain 5Cs but NOT expected to gain a C in Mathematics – 14% Surname ForenameEn La MaA*-CD Beech AmeliaCD57 Boimad HannahBD52 Brass JoshCE62 Crabtree TiaCD74 Izzett ChloeBE43 Joyce EllieCE63 Maidman MarionCE51 Merry CharlotteCE55 More SamanthaBD74 Oddfellow GeorgeAD111 Petrelli CarminaCD74 Rose HelenCE62 Trills HannahCE43 Succeeding with these students would add 14% to the current 5+ A* - C including English and Mathematics predicted figure of 25%.

Setting At Little Heath we have 254 students in Year 11. End of Y10 analysis in July 2009 suggested that 20 students were at risk of failing to gain 5+A*-C including English and Maths because of Maths and 15 because of English The HODs of these subjects used this to inform their setting and teacher timetabling for 2009/10

SISRA For free demonstration visit: Or phone Jphi3661 white

Assertive Mentoring Using a system of Assertive Mentoring based on that developed at Hurworth School (Darlington) has revolutionised the effectiveness of our mentoring: 1.We use data in Y10 to identify our ‘Key Marginal’ students 2.Tracking is planned to help transform students’ attainment levels. 3.Each month in Y11 teachers predict GCSE grades for students based on their current standard of attainment and attitude to learning. 4.This ensures that students (and their mentors) know exactly where they are and it enables the students to put it right. 5.Mentors interview students within one school week of the monthly data recording, so all data is live and incontrovertible. In % of our 60 Key Marginals gained 5+A*-C. In % of our 60 Key Marginals gained did. 53% gained 5 higher grades including English and Maths.

OFSTED Survey Report February 2008 ‘Progress is good because senior leaders carefully analyse data to identify underachieving groups and develop personalised programmes of support for them.’ ‘The intervention team considers academic achievement as well as students’ attitude to learning. This enables bespoke programmes to be devised for students, which include literacy and numeracy support, mentoring by senior leaders or participation in programmes aimed at reducing disaffection.’

An aspirational ethos Aspirational target grades are set based on FFT D; in individual subjects students and their teachers can agree to raise but not lower these. Early in Year 11 we run 4 targeted information evenings for parents at which we give a presentation that focuses on the importance of ‘aiming higher’, and deals with both how we and they can help their children achieve their goals.

Coursework catch-up ‘club’ Throughout Year 11 we run twilight coursework catch-up sessions; a lot of students attend voluntarily though some are compelled! By February of Y11 we analyse coursework ‘provisional’ grades against target grades to ensure (where possible) students have an ‘edge’ before the exams.

D to C campaign We have begun producing A3 posters that highlight the skills needed to turn Ds into Cs See examples

Aim Higher revision In 2008 we revolutionised our approach to the GCSE season (May / June) Post-February entries we used the skeleton timetable to plan a bespoke timetable for Y11 from the start of the GCSE exams in May Normal lessons were ended and replaced by prestige revision sessions aimed at the exams taking place during the subsequent day (or 2 days) These sessions had to be aimed at the skills, knowledge and understanding required for the paper that the students were about to sit.

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