THE best and worst performing secondary schools in Northwich, Winsford and Middlewich have been revealed.

Schools across England have been ranked based on their GCSE results by the Government, using its Attainment 8 and Progress 8 measurements.

St Nicholas Catholic High School scored the highest Attainment 8 score in mid Cheshire – meaning it achieved the best results for youngsters studying eight GCSEs, including English, maths and science.

Meanwhile, students at The County High School, Leftwich made the best progress in the area – with the school achieving the top Progress 8 score.

But Winsford Academy finished below the national average for both scores.

It comes in a year which sees schools in both Cheshire West and Cheshire East perform well against the national average.

Cllr Nicole Meardon, cabinet member for children and families at Cheshire West and Chester Council, said: “Progress 8 and Attainment 8 are two key headline secondary accountability measures and as such, all CWAC secondary schools work hard to perform as well as possible against them.

 

“In 2018 outcomes on both Progress 8 and Attainment 8 put CWAC in the top eight authorities in the north west.

“However it needs to be recognised that at an individual pupil level, in many cases schools allow pupils to make option choices that benefit the pupils but which may impact negatively on their headline outcome measures.”

The Government introduced Attainment 8 and Progress 8 in 2016 as a new way to hold schools to account.

Progress 8 is considered the ‘headline indicator’ of school performance – measuring the average progress of pupils from the end of primary school to the end of key stage 4.

Attainment 8 measures the average score for students’ best eight GCSE results – and must include English, maths and subjects in the ‘English Baccalaureate’ such as science, history and languages.

County High School, St Nicholas and Hartford C of E High School all performed above the national average for both Attainment 8 and Progress 8.

University of Chester Academy Northwich had the lowest Attainment 8 result, while Weaverham High School scored the lowest for Progress 8.

A Cheshire East Council spokesman added: “The council is constantly working closely with its schools regarding key school performance indicators. Both Attainment 8 and Progress 8 indicators help to assess our overall performance. Cheshire East’s performance across all its schools is extremely good.

“The provisional figures for 2018, show that for Progress 8, the council’s national, ranking compared with all local authorities, has again improved this year. We also continue to perform strongly for Attainment 8.

“It is important to point out that comparisons of trends over time for these indicators are challenging, as a result of changes to the GCSE assessment criteria.”

The Attainment 8 and Progress 8 scores for mid Cheshire’s state-funded secondary schools

Northwich Guardian: