Southend schools showing high performance across all key stages

September 13, 2017 by SBC

Thursday 14 September 2017

The excellent performance of Southend schools following summer tests and examinations will be discussed by the council’s cabinet next week (agenda item 11, Tuesday 19 September).

Indicative results show that at Key Stage 2 level, Southend schools are ranked 26th out of 151 areas nationally, the best ever result for the Borough. They also show that in almost all of the benchmark outcomes, and at all key stages, Southend pupils continue to outperform the national averages, and in some cases are increasing at a higher rate than all schools nationally.

Cllr James Courtenay, Executive Councillor for Children and Learning, says: “Pre-school results are up, Key Stage 1 results are up, and by the end of primary school (KS2), 65% of Southend pupils are achieving or exceeding the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, significantly above the national average of 61%. This is an increase of over 9 percentage points compared to 2016 and means Southend schools are 26th out of 151 local education authorities, our best ever result.

“These improvements show that we are working hard to put young children in the best place to go forward to secondary education and I am particularly proud of this achievement.
“At the end of secondary school whilst there has been a significant change in the way GCSE results are measured, this change has not stopped our youngsters continuing to improve.
“Education from start to finish in Southend continues to both improve and outperform against national benchmarks. The Council works closely with schools and other providers through the Southend Education Board, where we are all able to work together to continue to improve the education we provide the adults of the future. Our nurseries, schools and colleges are not only performing well, but improving this performance year on year. Well done to all involved.”

Figures by key stage

In Early Years (pre-school, aged 2-4), 74.3% of pupils are achieving a ‘good level of development’, comparing favourably to the 70.7% national average.

By the end of infants (Key Stage 1, Year 2, aged 7) 66.6% of Southend pupils are achieving the expected standard or above in combined reading, writing and maths, again comparing favourable to the national average of 63.7%.

By the end of primary school (Key Stage 2, Year 6, aged 11), 65% of Southend pupils are achieving or exceeding the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, significantly above the national average of 61%.

At the end of secondary school (GCSE, Key Stage 4), from the data obtained so far, 72.3% of pupils achieved the new benchmark of 4+ in the combined subjects. This is compared to 69% for the similar measure last year. Equally last year, the national figure was 63%, and we understand that this may have reduced slightly this year. If this is the case, not only have Southend schools improved on last year, but they also buck the national trend

At this stage, the majority of the outcomes are “raw data” and unvalidated. Whilst the overall scores are unlikely to change significantly, results for individual schools may fluctuate. Results for individual schools are not in the public domain until validated, which will be later in the autumn term.