Southwark pupils performed above the national average in their GCSE exams, provisional results have revealed.
The Department for Education released provisional GCSE results tables on Friday, ranking state-funded schools on their Progress 8 score – the new headline measure by which schools are judged.
The results showed state-funded schools in Southwark performed above average in this summer’s exams, with a Progress 8 score of 0.3 compared to the national average of -0.03.
Progress 8 measures pupils’ progress from their Key Stage 2 results at the end of primary, to their Key Stage 4 (GCSE) results at the end of secondary compared to others with similar primary results.
A school will fall below the new floor standard if their Progress 8 score is below -0.5, triggering an Ofsted inspection.
The 2017 exam results also included the first phase of the 0-9 numerical grading system – used only for English and maths this year – which will replace the A*-G system entirely by 2020.
In the new system, a grade 9 is the highest achievement, set above the current A* grade.
67.4 per cent of Southwark students achieved a grade 4 (standard pass) or above in English and maths, compared to 58.5 per cent of all schools nationally.
Meanwhile, 47 per cent achieved a grade 5 (high pass) or above compared to 39.1 per cent nationally.
The tables published by the DfE showed results for state-funded schools only, and data for some schools in Southwark was not available.
Of the Southwark schools with results published, Sacred Heart Catholic School topped the table with a Progress 8 score of 1.06, which was well above average.
80 per cent of students also achieved a grade 4 pass or above in GCSE English and maths which was well above average.
St Thomas the Apostle College also ranked highly at Progress 8 with a score of 0.88, and 71 per cent of students achieved a grade 4 or above in English and maths.
Harris Girls’ Academy East Dulwich had a Progress 8 score of 0.83 and 65 per cent of students achieved at least a grade 4 in English and maths.
Bacon’s College had the lowest Progress 8 rating recorded in the tables for Southwark, with a score of -0.25, which fell below the national average.
Sacred Heart headteacher Serge Cefai said: “These are incredible results that our whole school community is very proud of.
“However, it is worth emphasising that they are not a flash in the pan – Sacred Heart has consistently ranked as one of the highest-achieving schools in Southwark and the whole country for many years now.
“We pride ourselves on our track record of high expectations and academic excellence.”
A spokesperson for St Thomas the Apostle College said: “2017 has seen another year of very impressive GCSE results from St Thomas the Apostle.
“We are tremendously proud of the hard work our students have put in to achieving these fantastic results – our impressive progress figure of 0.88 demonstrates how our high expectations and “no excuses” culture, coupled with outstanding teaching is leading to success for our students.”
The provisional GCSE results were released earlier than usual this year.
Revised data will be released in January to allow for any re-marking and adjustments to take place and finalised by Spring.
What is Progress 8?
Progress 8 is the new headline measure by which schools are now judged.
It measures pupils’ progress from their Key Stage 2 results at the end of primary, to their Key Stage 4 (GCSE) results at the end of secondary compared to others with similar primary results.
A school will fall below the new floor standard if their Progress 8 score is below -0.5, triggering an Ofsted inspection.
This score would indicate that the average achievement of a school’s pupils is half a grade worse per subject than the national average of other pupils with the same prior attainment.
If schools fall below this, it will trigger an Ofsted inspection.
A score of zero means pupils in a school do, on average, about as well at Key Stage 4 as other pupils across England who got similar results at Key Stage 2.
A score above zero means pupils made more progress – and a negative score means pupils made less progress.