Greatwood is top school for improving pupils

From the archive, first published Friday 8th Dec 2006.

GREATWOOD is the top primary school in Craven and in the top six per cent in England for raising the academic level of its pupils.

The Skipton school has come top of the "added value" tables, which measure the progress made by pupils during their passage through the school.

There was also reason to celebrate for Bradley, Burnsall and Sutton Church of England schools, where pupils achieved a 100 per cent pass rate in the three tested subjects of English, maths and science.

The tables are based on Year 6 children taking standard assessment tests (Sats) in the three subjects.

The Government expects a child to have attained level four in the three subjects and the tables show the percentage of children who achieved that standard.

This year, they also show the percentage of children who reached the next level in those subjects.

The performance tables, however, do need some "health warnings".

They make no allowance for children with special needs and a child who is absent for the tests is considered to have failed them.

The results can fluctuate widely in small schools and when there are less than 10 pupils old enough to take the tests, then the school's results are omitted.

The "value added score" measures the progress individual pupils have made between tests when they are in Year 2 (Key Stage 1), generally aged seven, and in Year 6 (Key Stage 2), generally aged 11.

For example, School A might show a higher percentage of pupils achieving level four than School B, but its pupils may have done far better in tests at age seven and so start from a higher base.

The added value measure compares each pupil with other pupils with similar Key Stage 1 test results.

A score above 100 means pupils at that school have, on average, made more progress than similar pupils nationally, while measures below 100 represent schools where pupils made less progress.

A measure of 101 means that, on average, each of the school's pupils made one term's more progress between Key Stage 1 and 2 than the middle rank of pupils. A score of 99 means the school's pupils made a term's less progress.

A school with a valued added score of 101.8 is in the top five per cent in the country, and Greatwood missed out by a fraction, scoring 101.7.

The top schools in the Craven area for added value are:

1 Greatwood (101.7)

2 Salterforth (101.3)

=3 Bradley (101.1)

=3 Thornton in Craven (101.1)

5 Sutton Community Primary School (101.0)

=6 Embsay (100.9)

=6 Water Street Skipton (100.9)

8 Sutton Church of England (100.5)

9 Earby (100.2)

10 Kildwick (100.2)

Like many of his peers, headteacher John Collings is mistrustful of "league tables" pitting one school against another with a very different set of circumstances.

But he said: "If you have to have league tables, then I suppose it's better to be at the top of them.

"I am pleased with our valued added results though, because I think it is a long overdue recognition of the work and progress these kids make and is a far better measure than being one, two or three in raw results. It is a huge justification for what we do and how we do it.

"It is a continuing tremendous boost for the kids and parents in the Greatwood area and also a recognition that we do have quality staff who work really hard and effectively."

And at Bradley School, headteacher Ella Preston said of the league tables: "A lot of teachers at every school will be working blinking hard. They may have worked their socks off and the fact they have got some children into school to take the test is an achievement which may go unrecognised."