1. Regional Provisional GCSE data 2016
Richard Thomas
November 2016

2. The National Picture

4. SSAT data

6. Health Warning on Progress 8 Results
E.G. Take Student A. They achieved level 4 Ma/En KS2. Perhaps they were a 4B in ‘old money’ and they have a fine points score of 4.7 (please do not equate this to levels).
In the national sample at 4.7 , let’s say there are 100 students with the same fine points score and attainment estimate of These will vary from students with a high En and low Ma KS2 test score, to some with a high Ma score and lower En score, to some who performed equally well in both. There is no distinction between Gender, EAL, SEND, Disadvantaged or any other context. 4.7 pupils are considered as a single homogenous group.
Attainment 8 is the average over 10 subjects (Ma/En Doubled). To get a score of 50 they have to achieve a Grade C in every subject. If we averaged our sample over ten subjects, some of the 100 students will do better than others, (hence the 51.71).
GCSE grade boundaries are cliff edges i.e. one mark off a C is a D the same grade as one mark above an E grade. Different subjects also have different Grade boundaries. There is no allowance for this in Attainment 8 and Progress 8.
However, scoring one D grade means you drop to 49, if that is En or Ma it is 48, if it is a D in both En/Ma it is 46. Therefore, use caution in interpreting progress 8 results . One or two badly performing key subject areas or groups can distort your school outcome.

7. How many students might be in this GAP?
4.6
49.82
2.12
4.7
51.71
1.89
4.8
53.78
2.07
This is about the average
Attainment 2016
512,368 students took GCSE last year

13. The Regional Picture

16. 70%APS/30% FSM6

17. APS on Entry

18. FSM6 for cohort

19. EAL for cohort

20. Attainment 8

21. Progress 8

22. EN/Ma C and above

24. How can we benefit from our Data Sharing?
We need to go a stage further than just headline figures
Headline figures are the outcomes of:
Subject performance
How different groups of students performed in these subjects
The Curriculum offer
Unless we are prepared to share data at this more detailed, practitioner level we will not fully exploit the full potential of school to school support.
As an example our ALPS directory of Good Practice shows subject data.

25. In collaboration with ALPS, this year we are sharing a directory of good practice at A level subject level for the first time. This is the suggested protocol for using the guide.
Using the Guide
We believe that collaboration at practitioner level is the most effective way to achieve subject improvements. This guide is only a starting point for collaboration. Schools/colleges can use this information to contact each other and delve deeper than the headline figures to find out how others have achieved success in their contexts.
This guide gives you:
Basic school and college contextual information about cohort size and Average GCSE points of the whole six form.
Detailed subject performance from subject departments, who have consistently performed at ALPS 4 or above over the last three years. It also gives the subject cohort size and average GCSE points on entry and an ALPS score.
This should give you sufficient information to find school/college departments with similar contexts to yours for you to compare your subject performance.
Contacting Schools/Colleges
The onus is on the user of the guide to contact a centre if they wish to ask for some subject support or a visit. Neither ALPS, RSC or Headteacher Associations have the resources to involve themselves in this process. The normal protocol would be to go through the Headteacher or Principal for approval to contact subject staff but please mention the ALPS guide in your request.
Headteachers and Principals are under no obligation to offer support to others because they alone can decide if their staff have the capacity to help and some centres may become overloaded with requests. This will be especially true of subjects with very few centres listed in the guide.

26. For this to work at KS4, schools would need to have mechanisms for comparing subject performance relative to students starting points and sharing good practice at subject level.
There are a number of possibilities – Discuss around your tables.

27. Future concerns and opportunities for School to School Collaboration across the region.
Current Y11 and numbers of students achieving 5 to 9 in En/Ma
Current Yr10 En/Ma and 1st tranche of revised linear GCSEs
Current Yr9 En/Ma and 1st and 2nd tranche of revised GCSEs