General

These Tables provide the exam results for secondary school pupils who are at the end of KS4. In the majority of schools, those pupils in Year 11 in the 2007/08 school year are at the end of KS4. For each local authority (LA), schools are listed alphabetically, with special schools shown separately at the end of each list.

If your child already attends a school listed in the Tables, you may be interested to see how its results compare with other schools in the area, and with the LA and national averages. You can also see, at a glance, how each school's results have changed over the past four years.

You may want to discuss the results with teachers at your child's school - how do they feel the school is performing, and what plans do they have to improve levels of achievement? How can you support the work of the school? What more can you do to help your own child do better?

Choosing a school

If you are considering local secondary schools for your child, you will find helpful information in the Tables about the performance of schools in your area. However, the Tables provide only part of the picture of each school's overall achievements.

You can find more information in school prospectuses, by checking for reports of recent Ofsted inspections and, by visiting schools and talking to teachers.

The Key Stage 4 Achievement and Attainment Tables give more than one measure of a school's performance. These measures can be considered alongside each other when evaluating the performance of a school. The Tables show:

  • background information for each school including proportion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN);
  • cohort information for pupils at the end of KS4;
  • GCSE (and equivalent) achievements of pupils at the end of KS4 including indicators for English, Mathematics, Science, and in Modern Foreign Languages;
  • KS2-KS4 CVA;
  • information on persistent absence and overall absence rates; and
  • bar charts showing year on year comparisons of 15 year olds' exam results over the past four years.

You will find more information on how CVA is calculated; the National Curriculum; the National Qualifications Framework; adjustments to number of pupils on roll; and Special Educational Needs; in the 'More Information' section of this website. Further technical detail on CVA is provided in the 'Technical Guide to Contextual Value Added 2007/2008 Model' and the 'Point scores for tests and examinations' publications at www.education.gov.uk/performancetables

The 'More Information' section of this website also contains explanations of terms and abbreviations, where the information in the Tables comes from, and how to get printed copies.