General
These tables provide the exam results for secondary school students who are at the end of Key Stage 4. In the majority of schools, those students in Year 11 in the 2006/07 school year are at the end of Key Stage 4.
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 profiles, in school prospectuses, by checking for reports of recent Ofsted inspections and, by visiting schools and talking to teachers.
How to read the tables
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 students with special educational needs (SEN)
- cohort information for students at the end of Key Stage 4
- GCSE (and equivalent) achievements of students at the end of Key Stage 4 including English and maths, and in science
- Key Stage 2 to 4 contextual value added
- Key Stage 3 to 4 contextual value added
- information on overall and unauthorised student absences
- bar charts showing year on year comparisons of exam results over the past four years.
The following sections describe what is published for each school and explains how to interpret the information and what conclusions can be drawn:
- the CVA measure
- the students and qualifications reported
- the results for students at the end of Key Stage 4
- the year on year comparisons
- the absence records.
You will find more information on how CVA is calculated; the National Curriculum; the National Qualifications Framework; adjustments to number of students on roll; and Special Educational Needs; in the 'More Information' section on this website.
Further technical detail on CVA is provided in the 'Guide to CVA' and further detail on the points for examinations and qualifications can be found in the 'Point scores for tests and examinations' available from this website.
The 'More Information' section of this website offers definitions of terms and abbreviations, outlines where the information on this website, and explains how to get extra copies.