Guardian News

EPPING FOREST: School league tables published

By Clare Hardy

9:30am Saturday 28th January 2012

EXAM results remain the best way of measuring a school’s achievement, according to head-teachers.

The most recent table, which ranks secondary schools according to the proportion of pupils achieving five ‘good’ GCSEs – A* to C grades including English and maths, A-level results and a new ‘value-added’ score, which takes into account the academic level children were at when they entered the school.

Davenant Foundation School in Chester Road, Loughton, was top out of the district’s schools, with 75 per cent of children reaching the five good GCSE mark and a value-added score of 1,015 – above the national average of 1,000.

Debden Park High School in Willingale Road, Loughton, had a value-added score of 1.25 per cent below the national average – the third highest in the district – and it had the second highest proportion of pupils achieving the five or more ‘good’ GCSEs, at 67 per cent.

Head-teacher Christian Cavanagh said: “It’s down to parents to decide what data they consider important.

“I still feel that the five A* to C including maths and English is the vital benchmark, because that’s the data that gets you a job or allows you to go to college.

“They don’t ask you what your value-added is when you go for a job.”

He said the proportion achieving the standard at his school had risen consistently each year from about 20 per cent five years ago and he was confident it would reach at least 70 per cent this year.

George Yerosimou, head-teacher at St John’s School in Epping, said the number of pupils getting this GCSE benchmark was the best way of knowing how well a school was doing, although he said the value-added mark was also fair.

“We’ve gone up by 21 per cent in two years,” he said. “I’m very happy with that because the attainment of that year group on entry was significantly below the national average.

“We managed to get near to the national average and that’s been the case at St John’s for a while.

“For other schools – the majority of them – attainment on entry is above the national average.”

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