Hi Vixxen
I'm just a Mum but will try and help:
2013 KS2 Performance Tables last update : (23 Jan 2014)
Year on year comparisons
Percentage achieving Level 4 or above in reading, writing and maths
2012 2013
School 98% 88%
LA 82% 82%
England - All Schools 75% 75%
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OK so this is saying 98% of pupils at this school achieved government target of NC L4 in reading/ writing/ maths combined in 2012 & 88% in 2013. These are very solid results. The 10% drop can look worrying - but what you should do is track this performance over the preceeding 5-6 years - go to www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/archive/index.shtml - follow links by year & enter your school name or post code
But basically this is a school getting nearly 9/10 kids (in 2013) to at least the government 'target' for End of Primary of NC Level 4. Very solid result.
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KS2 test results and progress
All pupils Low attainers Middle attainers High attainers
Pupils eligible for KS2 assessment 42
Percentage achieving level 3 or below in reading, writing and maths 2%SUPP 0% 0% - OK so one of the known low ability pupils didn't achieve NC L4 but achieved NC L3 in one or all of the reading/ writing/ maths SATs. This could be for any number of reasons - including SEN. They could have suppressed (WHICH IS WHAT SUPP MEANS) this data for any number of reasons - but usually because the number is so low the individual child could be identified.
Percentage achieving level 4 or above in reading, writing and maths 88% SUPP 90% 100%
(Ok so overall 88% of the kids taking the test in 2013 achieved NC L4 or better in reading/ writing/ maths combined. They've chosen to suppress precentage of low ability pupils, they say 90% of middle ability pupils achieved L4 or better and 100% of high ability pupils achieved L4 or better - this is a solid result. They should get all high ability to L4 - and middle ability is a pretty broad church and it may be that one subject (say maths) was tricky for the pupil.
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Percentage achieving level 4B or above in reading and maths and level 4 or above in writing 83%SUPP 81% 100%
(OK so NC L4 is divided into C (lowest 1/3), B( middle 1/3) and A (upper third - 4B is basically working securely at L4 - 83% of the pupils at this school are (which is very solid indeed). They've suppressed this stat for low ability pupils, 81% of middle ability pupils are and all of the high ability pupils are working at 4B or higher (which is what you should expect - so great).
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Percentage achieving level 5 or above in reading, writing and maths 31% SUPP 5% 86%
OK - first off What does NC L5 means. NC Level 5 is the low end of expectation for achievement at the end of KS3 (government expects NC L5/6 - found this doc that explains things: www.qegs.co.uk/files/NationalCurriculumLevelsExplained_Feb2012.pdf)
So 31% of all pupils (There were 42 in 2013 - so 13 out of the total of 42 children) achieved NC L5 on all 3 SATs exams in Reading/ Writing/ Maths. Again, they've suppressed low attainers. 5% of middle attaineers achieved NC L5 in reading/ writing/ maths (so 2 pupils did better than teachers predicted) and 86% of high ability pupils achieved NC L5 in all 3 tests. (That's pretty solid - again children may have great strengths in one area but are weaker in others - so particularly good at reading/ writing but weak at math, for example).
Percentage making expected progress in reading 97% SUPP 95% 100%
Expected progress is the number of sub-levels or APP points your child should progress in a given year. This is in terms of their entire run through KS2 - but nonetheless - it's asking if overall the child's progress as a pupil was as expected (predicted by the teachers).
Very solid numbers- 97% of the entire school made expected progress (what the teachers predicted they would) in reading - they've suppressed the low ability pupils - again because the actual number is probably so low the pupil(s) could be identified.
Percentage making expected progress in writing 95%SUPP 95% 93%
(Very solid numbers - 95% of entire school making expected progress).
Percentage making expected progress in maths 97%SUPP 95% 100%
(Ditto).
Average point score 30.7 (very solid - certainlly better than our school).
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Overall this looks a very solid school that is getting the vast majority of its pupils to a good standard. If you add in factors like SEN, lack of parental support, EAL, FSM, etc... - much of the poorer performance may very well be logical - a battle schools fight hard to win, but rarely do.
If you want to reassure yourself about this school - try visiting parent view and typing in the name of the school - this is a standard survey OFSTED takes of parents opinions of the school - I think the telling result is the percentage who would recommend the school to someone else. link: parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/parent-view-results
However the reality is no school is perfect - they all have 'their issues' and I think the reality is you have to see it as something of a compromise. One school might have brilliant support for music interests and another has a fantastic scheme to accelerate reading ability for struggling readers. A parent's opinion often depends on what situation they're in. The parent of the budding musician may be fed up with the school that's brilliant at reading and creative writing and pining to be at the not-so-good school that has a fantastic music programme and a school orchestra.
The reality is that chosing a school has as much more to do with proximity, atmosphere, 'ethos', reputation as it does with educational achievement. It's about getting the balance right - and of course what exactly your child is going to need over the course of 7 years in primary school is incredibly hard to predict at such a young age - and although it may be a great fit for one or more of your DCs - it isn't necessarily the best fit for all your children.
HTH