District schools lead the county (From Witney Gazette)

District schools lead the county

2:19pm Friday 31st March 2006 in Witney By Monica Sloan

WEST Oxfordshire's 14-year-olds are continuing to outperform the national average in Key Stage Three tests, according to Government league tables published last Thursday.

Countywide, the biggest improvement was in science, with 74 per cent achieving the expected level five in 2005 four per cent above both last year's result and the national figure.

The number of pupils making the grade in English rose three per cent to 76 per cent in 2005, compared to 74 per cent nationally.

In maths, 77 per cent achieved benchmark grades, up one per cent on the previous year and three per cent above the national average.

After lagging behind for several years, pupils are finally closing the attainment gap with similar authorities.

Although no Oxfordshire school made it into the top-performing 200 schools nationally, the county's average point score, which measures attainment across all levels of ability, was 35.1, outperforming Devon (34.5) and Somerset (34.9), and creeping closer to Wiltshire (35.4) and West Berkshire (35.9).

"Pupils achieve a lot more across a whole range of subjects and aspects of their education than these limited examinations can possibly show, particularly when there still exist great doubts as to the accuracy of the marking."

Bartholomew School headteacher Andrew Hamilton

Burford School and Community College is top of the Key Stage Three tree in Oxfordshire, with the highest average point score per pupil of 37.7.

It was the only county school to score more than 90 per cent in any test, with 92 per cent achieving level five, or above, in English.

It also ranks among only four schools in the county to improve its aggregate score across all three subjects for three consecutive years.

The others were Cheney School, Oxford, and Fitzharrys and Larkmead schools, Abingdon.

Chipping Norton School recorded the top value-added score in the county, jointly with the Cherwell School, Oxford.

Value-added scores, which measure the progress pupils make between Key Stage Two and Key Stage Three, are considered the fairest way to compare school performance.

Chipping Norton achieved the highest maths result, while Bartholomew School, Eynsham, scored the top science result in the county.

Headteachers have welcomed the overall improvement and hope it will help have a positive knock-on effect on the county's exam record when these students sit their GCSEs next year.

Burford headteacher, Patrick Sanders, said: "We're obviously delighted to be the best in the county.

"It's the result of hard work from all the pupils and staff.

"We're particularly pleased about the year-on-year improvement. That's what school improvement is all about and it is a sign of good teaching."

Bartholomew headteacher, Andrew Hamilton, praised his pupils, but warned that the national tests did not tell the whole story.

He said: "The performance of Bartholomew's pupils at all levels in last year's examinations was exemplary.

"However, we must not lose sight of the fact that the SATs are only an imperfect snapshot view of our pupils' performances in a narrow, if important, range of subjects.

"Pupils achieve a lot more across a whole range of subjects and aspects of their education than these limited examinations can possibly show, particularly when there still exist great doubts as to the accuracy of the marking."