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A message from Patrick Leeson:

7 September 2017 weekly update

7 September 2017

We start the new school year with an update from Patrick Leeson on the provisional Early Years and school results.

Dear Colleagues

Provisional Early Years and School Results 2016

Welcome back to the new school year. I hope you and your staff had a relaxing summer break. As usual in this first week of term we provide a summary of the provisional school results for all Key Stages and emerging national results, and in the case of GCSE and post 16 we are still awaiting returns from a small number of schools so the data is very provisional.

Early Years Foundation Stage

In 2017, the proportion of children in Kent achieving a good level of development (GLD) was 74.3%, which is in line with 2016 outcomes. This is above the emerging national average of 70.7% for 2017. Outcomes against this measure have improved by 1.2 percentage points since 2015.

Phonics

Year 1

Kent has continued to improve outcomes in 2017 and has maintained a positive upward trend.

  • 82.1% of pupils achieved the expected standard in Phonics, compared with the emerging national of 81.2%.
  • Since 2015, outcomes have improved by 4%, which is in line with the emerging national rate of improvement.
  • In relation to gender, 78.3% of boys achieved the expected standard, which remains the same as 2016. The proportion of girls achieving the expected standard increased to 86.2% in 2017. The gender gap has not closed and remains similar to 2016, at 7.9%.

Year 2

The proportion of pupils who achieved the expected standard in Phonics re-takes in Year 2 fell for the second successive year in 2017.

  • 59.6% of Year 2 pupils achieved the expected standard in the Phonics re-takes, which is below the emerging national of 61.6%.
  • Since 2015, outcomes against this measure have fallen by 7.4% compared with an emerging national decline of 2.4%.
  • In relation to gender, 56.5% of boys achieved the expected standard in Year 2, which was 6.1 percentage points lower than 2016. The proportion of girls achieving the expected standard was 64.3%, 4.7 percentage points lower than 2016. The gender gap has widened to 7.8 percentage points in 2017.

Key Stage 1

In 2017, outcomes improved across all indicators. As in 2016, Kent schools overall have again performed above the emerging national for the proportion of pupils meeting or exceeding the expected standard at Key Stage 1 for all subjects.

The proportion of pupils assessed as working at greater depth was also above the emerging national figures for all subjects, apart from Mathematics, which was in line with the emerging national average.

  • 68.3% of Kent pupils met or exceeded the expected standard in Reading, Writing and Mathematics combined, compared with the emerging national average of 63.7%.
  • In Reading, 78.8% of pupils met or exceeded the expected standard, compared with the emerging national average of 75.5%.
  • In Writing, the proportion of pupils who met or exceeded the expected standard was 72.3% compared with the emerging national average of 68.2%.
  • 78.4% of pupils in Kent met or exceeded the expected standard in Mathematics, compared with the emerging national average of 75.1%.

Key Stage 2

In 2017, attainment in Kent improved across all indicators compared with 2016. Kent performed at least in line with the emerging national for all subjects, apart from Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling (GPS), which was just below the provisional national.

The proportion of pupils who met or exceeded the expected standard in Reading, Writing and Mathematics combined increased to 64.4% which is above the provisional national average and continues the positive trajectory at the end of Key Stage 2.

Although the proportion of pupils meeting and exceeding the expected standard improved across all subjects, although the rate of improvement was not as rapid as the provisional national improvements for reading, writing, mathematics and GPS.

There are 149 schools below the emerging national average for Reading, Writing and Mathematics combined.

Both Kent and emerging national outcomes are below the current attainment floor standard of 65%.

Kent schools overall have been successful in increasing the proportion of pupils attaining greater depth in Reading, Writing and Mathematics combined in 2017. The improvements against this indicator for reading and writing are higher than the provisional national improvements and in line with the emerging national improvements for mathematics and GPS.

In relation to gender: 60.8% of boys and 68.3% of girls in Kent reached the expected standard in Reading, Writing and Mathematics combined. This is an improvement of 5.5% and 7.4% respectively for these groups when compared with 2016.

Individual subjects:

  • In Reading, 74.2% of pupils in Kent met or exceeded the expected standard, compared to 71.0% against the provisional national average.
  • In Writing, 80.3% of Kent pupils met or exceeded the expected standard, compared to 76.0% against the provisional national average.
  • 75.7% of pupils in Kent met or exceeded the expected standard in Mathematics which is in line with the provisional national average of 75.0%.
  • 76.0% of pupils in Kent met or exceeded the expected standard in Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling, which is just below the provisional national average of 77.0%.

GCSE

At Key Stage 4 it is not possible to make direct comparisons with performance in 2016 because of the implementation of the new grading system and more demanding GCSE examinations. However provisional results show that GCSE performance in Kent is just above 2016 in terms of pupils attaining good GCSE outcomes.

The data is still very provisional and subject to further change as a complete set of results is not yet available. The Progress 8 measure, which is used for the floor standard, will be published later in the Autumn term along with national comparative data.

Performance in the old measure, the percentage of pupils achieving 5 or more good GCSE grades including English and mathematics, is 62.1%. This is above last year’s figure of 60.8% and the 2016 national average of 57.7%. So far, 49% of schools have reported improvement on their 2016 performance in this measure.

In the new headline Basics measure, the proportion of pupils achieving good grades in English and mathematics combined, is 64.8%. This is above last year’s result of 63.1% and 1.5 percentage points above last year’s national figure. The national figure for 2017 Basics measure is not yet available. So far, 42% of schools have reported improvement in 2017 compared to the previous year’s performance.

Post 16

At Post 16, a new grading system has been introduced and consequently 2017 results cannot be directly compared to those in 2016.

The figures below compare 2017 data returned by schools with similar data from this point last year. This provisional data has not been validated and will be subject to change when the final validated DfE performance tables are available in January 2018.

  • Currently 75% schools across Kent are reporting improved Average points score per entry at A level compared to 2016 figures
  • So far the number of schools who have met or exceeded the 2016 national figures for Average points score per entry at A level (30.84) is 41%
  • The number of schools who have met or exceeded the 2016 national figures for Average points score per entry at Applied General level (37.99) is 60%
  • The number of schools who have met or exceeded the 2016 national figures for Average points score per entry at Technical level (36.89) is 55%
  • The Kent Average Point score currently shows improved figures compared to 2016 and exceeds the national average for 2016.

In relation to facilitating subjects, the percentage of students achieving AAB or above at A level is disappointing. The figure has declined to 10.6.% in 2017, from 17. 8% in 2016, although this figure is very provisional and we are waiting for further clarification.

As usual we must qualify these results as provisional and a more detailed report on the results will be available when the data is more complete.

Well done and many congratulations to all the schools that have achieved improvements in outcomes for pupils in 2017.

Patrick Leeson
Corporate Director 
Children, Young People and Education