When is the GCSE 2016 data out?

[Sancia]

Is it October sometime or is it not coming out at all?

I usually have a look at the nearby 4-5 schools - I appreciate it's only one part of the picture, but it's still helpful, given that none of them can crack 60% pass rate and most hover around 40% (yay) - but the table/comparison data is still for 2015.

[PotteringAlong]

Raise online data will all be confirmed in November.

[Sancia]

Aha, found the info - yeah, it's October.
tableschecking.education.gov.uk/

[Sancia]

November! Oh, OK, thanks :)

[titchy]

It's PUBLISHED in January. October is for schools to check. Anything prior to January won't reflect remarks and won't therefore be accurate.

[DataEducator]

Provisional 2016 data will be published on Thursday 13th October at 9.30am for all secondary schools.

These figures will be validated in January, usually schools might move a percentage point or two during this process, which reflects remarks of papers. However the general position of the school will remain similar.

[3asAbird]

Sure it used be dec unless that's just sats on dfe website
I did look at gcses for each school we looked at.

[DataEducator]

Yes it used to be later but the DfE have brought provisional data forward to inform parents with the options process.

This is the website: www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/

[3asAbird]

Great as want breakdown of individual subjects and compare value added and how each cohort did.

[mirpuppet]

DataEducator Thank you for the heads up.

I will be looking as I think one of the schools we are considering has exaggerated their provisional results. Hopefully they haven't. I will be happy if I'm able to check before secondary school applications are to be submitted.

[DataEducator]

Yes - some schools will have exaggerated their provisional results.

Some schools will be choosing to advertise old measures and not new ones and some schools will have just got it wrong unintentionally.

How could this happen? I could bore you with a lot of detail but it's a period of flux for education and a lot of the systems schools rely on misinterpreted DfE guidance and therefore got a few things wrong.

So to be sure, check what your shortlisted schools are saying and then check the DfE performance tables website on or after Thursday to see if that is true or false.

[Earlgreyandcake]

I seem to remember a website where you could view data on many school and list them in order of different performance measures. Can anyone point me in direction of that site?

[Ta1kinpeece]

earlgrey
the DFE performance tables are your friend
the web layout has changed
but you can download the whole set to play with

[OdinsLoveChild]

On the DFE performance table site it says the results will be available from 13th October.

[multivac]

Do bear in mind that if what you are interested in is the level of qualifications that students take away with them at the end of Y11, the league tables will not necessarily tell you this (there is an awful lot else they won't tell you too, of course, but I'm sure everyone knows that). So yes, check the DfE's data - but if it varies from an individual school's data, it might be worth seeing if the school has a positive explanation for that (such as, allowing students to take their GCSE maths in the summer of Y10 - knowing they aren't ready - purely in order that they might be allowed to take it in the November of Y11, when it might benefit them to do so).

[Sancia]

I tend to use them to:

1. Laugh at the local Grade Chaser. This school managed to get 90%+ pass rates for a while until it became clear they were expelling kids who would 'under-perform', weren't allowing some kids to take GCSEs and hammering repeat GCSE-takings from Year 9 onwards. Local gossip suggested their bullying issues were resolved by expelling the one (bully or victim) likely to score the lower grades. For the last few years, as each dodgy practise has been controlled by the government and removed from the league table, they have plummeted and now get the same 50%ish pass rate as the other schools.
   

1. That school also seems poor value, as children with SEN and on FSM do much, much worse than their classmates, whereas the other local schools' SEN/FSM kids do broadly the same as the other kids. So perhaps I don't mind their slightly lower pass rate given that they put more effort into everyone's education and not just a select few.
   

1. I compare the schools against each other. Fine if it was 'a hard year' or whatever, but if I've got two schools with a 55% A-C pass rate and one with 22%, I'm not going to be impressed with the third.
   

1. I like to see some variety. A couple of schools seem to have nobody taking GCSEs in music, art or drama. Others offer these and have kids taking those options, which I feel shows a respect for the arts and a belief there's more to life than just hammering the EBacc.
   

1. Speaking of which, I like to see just how abysmal the Modern Foreign Language grades are. They are so bad I might have to ensure my kids don't take them at GCSE as it's clearly a waste of time at schools (due to cuts, lack of teachers, lack of timetabling) and they can take a private session instead.
   

This isn't a good school area. Our job is to pick the best of a fairly run-down bunch, none of which surpass 55% pass rate.

[3asAbird]

Help how do I decipher these figured

I see headline gcse figures
Can't see value added score they seem bang on abput every open day.
Most local schools are below average progress 8.

What is progress 8 and is it the most important thing to focus on.

I can't see breakdown of how well each cohort has done ie low / middle and high attainers have done will that be published later

I set up compare table for 11 local schools in different areas to see what comes up.

My Dd is stronger at English
Musical and sporty
Weaker at maths
High end of low attainers or low middle distinctly average academically
She can do well if she works hard and is pushed.
I also worry she's easily led so if she falls into wrong crowd or overall ethos of majority of her cohort is non academic focussed then how that would affect her.

Also 2 of best performance schools in County have requires improvement ofsted been plagued by a number of issues staff strike / huge debts /lots changes of staff/ poor pastoral care ect.
Both are huge academic trusts.

I want to find something meets in middle and try and get past the headline 5 gcse results.

[catslife]

Performance 8 is the new Value added measure 3asabird so it is important as it measures progress from the end of KS2 to GCSEs across a range of 8 subjects (see link).
schoolsweek.co.uk/the-progress-8-measure-explained/
It could be that the reason some of your local schools have low numbers is that they enter a smaller number of pupils for academic EBacc subjects.

[janinlondon]

Does anyone know where can we see a school's results for each GCSE subject? They used to publish them...........??

[multivac]

Performance 8 is the new Value added measure 3asabird so it is important as it measures progress from the end of KS2 to GCSEs across a range of 8 subjects

No - it measures progress from the end of KS2 to a student's first attempt at GCSEs.

[Sancia]

Well, crack open the champers, I get to pick between a school that only bothered to enter 29% for the EBacc (maybe they lost the languages department, I'll have to check) and only 18% passed anyway, some with Progress 8 scores ranging from -0.06 to -0.31 and, for English and Maths A-C pass rates I can choose a 52% or a 57%. I mean, I just can't contain my excitement here.

Janin, I think they come out later. One of the local schools here has them up, they must have them in their possession.

[mintthins]

I just did a comparison, and discovered that DDs very mixed non selective school has done almost as well as the super selective in the next borough. The super selective has got amazing results, but brilliant to see that a 'normal' school can do just as well.

[titchy]

I wouldn't be bothered about EBacc at all to be honest. Lots of kids really don't want to do a language or a humanity, adn I find it quite refreshing that a school doesn't insist they take one anyway just to look good.

Sancia without seeing the cotextual stuff those stats are meaningless. If those schols have 80% of the cohort failing to achieve level 4 in their year 6 stats those results would be amazing.

[HereIAm20]

Sometimes though you aren't comparing like for like when looking at a "normal" school compared to a superselective.

"Normal" schools tend to give the percentage of those achieving 5 A-C grades whereas the superselective will give their percentage as a whole eg. 94%A-B would mean 94% of the actual exams taken not just 94% getting 5 GCSEs at those grades.

[Ta1kinpeece]

Um no. On the dfe tables they all record the same things