Appendix b
Schools’ Performance Data Overview 2013
The following analysis is a summary of the performance of Blaenau Gwent schools in the academic year ending July 2013. Each school will have reviewed, with the Education Achievement Service (EAS), its own performance with the expectation that the lessons learnt will inform planning for improvement.
The data for the Foundation Phase (age 3 - 7), Key stage 2 (7 - 11) and Key Stage 3 (11 - 14) is derived from teacher assessments. Key Stage 4 data reflects performance at 15+ which is externally examined and reported as GCSE results or their equivalent.
Foundation Phase
When ranked against the other 22 Welsh Local Authorities (LAs), Blaenau Gwent is 17th. This is higher than might be anticipated given the socio-economic context. 81% of learners achieved an Outcome 5 or above in the core areas which was 2% higher than in 2012. The Welsh average is 83%. Mathematical Development may become an issue if a trend of slower progress is confirmed next year.
Key Stage 2
Local Authority improvement in performance in each of the Key Stage 2 indicators over the 2010/11 to 2012/13 period has been greater than that of the Welsh Average. However, this is in the context of Blaenau Gwent performance on all KS2 indicators which is well below the Welsh average and has the lowest CSI and English results in Wales and second lowest in Maths and Science. The gender gap may be narrower because of slower progress by girls. There is evidence when comparing targets against performance that target setting is insufficiently challenging.
Key Stage 3
Learners are not making sufficient progress in key stage 3. While the School Families data may show some encouragement, the Benchmarking data strongly indicates underperformance, with few exceptions. On the CSI and for English, Blaenau Gwent was 22nd in the all Wales rankings and over 4% adrift of the next lowest performer.
Key Stage 4
38.7% of learners met the Level threshold inclusive (5 A*-C passes including English or Welsh) in 2013, an encouraging and significant 4.4% increase on the previous year and a rate of improvement which needs to be sustained. This places Blaenau Gwent 21= in the all Wales ranking. The progress was not, however, uniform across all 4 schools and while real strides have been made in one school, another has a downward 3 year trend.
89% achieved the level 1 threshold (5 A*-G passes) which is 3% lower than the LA which is 21st in the rankings. This is a significant gap.
60% achieved the Level 2 threshold (5 A*-C passes) which is a very significant 9% below the LA which is the second lowest in Wales. Merthyr Tydfil, not dissimilar in size and socio-economic context, scored 13% more than Blaenau Gwent on this indicator. The LA and its schools need a particular focus on performance at Key Stage 4 if these very challenging issues are to be addressed and underperformance eradicated.
The data for the schools when placed in their Families of Schools presents a better picture than the comparative data offered in the Benchmarking distributions. The overall trend is one of improvement but not at a sufficiently fast pace to raise Blaenau Gwent from the lowest ranking on most indicators.
The performance in English dipped in Blaenau Gwent in 2013 by 2% which needs to be addressed if performance across the curriculum is not to be affected negatively in the longer term.
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