School Performance

Ofsted Report 2022

Our leadership team has been praised for their “determined and resilient” approach to running the school, despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, in our first Ofsted report.

Inspectors visited Aureus in March, and have just published their findings.

Planned improvements to the school were disrupted by COVID-19, the report noted, but despite this, our leaders and our colleagues at GLF Schools, were complimented on having “a clear understanding of what needs to be improved” and “implementing these changes, so that children have the knowledge and skills they need to succeed.”

Ofsted Report March

School Performance Data

School performance data

The Government has published performance data from the summer 2022 exams for all secondary schools, sixth forms and colleges. This is the first time that data has been published since the start of the pandemic. The Department for Education has been clear that, given the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on different students, schools and colleges, this data should be treated with caution. We are writing to explain the data which has been produced, the changes in how it has been presented, and to provide some context about how the exams this summer were affected.

What data has been published?

The data published today includes the following:

For secondary schools:

• Our school/college’s Progress 8 figure (the relative progress of our students in eight subjects, compared to students with similar levels of attainment at the end of primary school).
• Our school/college’s Attainment 8 figure (the raw score achieved by our students in the same eight subjects).
• The percentage of our students who entered the Ebacc (a government measure which means students took all of English, maths, sciences, a language, and history or geography GCSE).
• Our school/college’s Ebacc average point score (our students’ average score in the same Ebacc subjects).
• The overall figure for how many of our students entered GCSEs.
• How many of our students stay in education or employment after Year 11.
• The percentage of our students achieving a grade 5 or higher in both English and maths GCSEs.

 
Although the new tables do not share a full picture of GCSE grades it is important to share the following about Aureus School GCSE results in 2022.

•  13% of all GCSE entries gained grades 9 to 7, which is the equivalent of grades   A*-A
• A grade 5 is a strong pass and at Aureus School 43% of all GCSE entries gained grades 9 – 5, which is the equivalent of grades A* - B
• 62% of all GCSE entries at Aureus School gained grades 9 – 4, which is the equivalent of grades A* - C
• A standard pass at GCSE is a grade 4 and we had 57% of our students achieving a pass in both English and Maths.

 

103 students in Year 10 also sat their half GCSE in Religious Studies and they have done very well.

17% gained grades 9 – 7

42% gained grades 9 – 5

 

What’s different this year?

The Government has made a number of changes to the website where they display school and college results (www.find-school-performance-data.service.gov.uk ). These include:

• changing the name of the website from ‘Compare school and college performance’ to ‘Find and check the performance of schools and colleges in England’
• removing the table of all schools’ national performance
• removing the ability for users to create their own tables of selected schools and colleges
• removing the red / amber / green ratings on school performance measures

 

All of this is designed to discourage users from making direct comparisons between schools and colleges this year or comparing this year’s data to previous years’.

 

Why can’t be compared this year?

The Government, and the schools’ inspectorate Ofsted, acknowledge that the impact of the pandemic was not the same across all schools and colleges. Even within a local area or town, the impact of the pandemic was very different.Therefore, they are clear that data can only tell us so much and should be used as the basis for a conversation rather than being used to directly compare one school or college with another.

How were the results arrived at last year?

In 2020 and 2021, exams were cancelled due to the pandemic, and grades were based on teacher assessments (with exam boards ensuring consistency). This different form of assessment led to grades, overall, being higher in 2020 and 2021 than they were in pre-pandemic years, when students sat exams. Last summer saw the first return of exams since 2019, albeit with significant adaptations to recognise that students’ learning had been significantly affected by the pandemic. Nationally, it was determined that grades would, overall, fall roughly halfway between 2019 and 2021. This would enable grades to gradually move back to pre-pandemic levels, while still being as fair as possible to students taking exams in 2022.The national data that we are compared to reflects this and is higher than in pre-pandemic years.

What is the context of our results?

As we have communicated throughout the past three years, the pandemic context of our school has changed over time. When considering our results, it is worth keeping the following information in mind:

• Nationally all students spent time learning at home during 2019/20, 2020/21, however due to continuous covid cases last autumn / winter numerous students in Year 11 had to isolate or often had repeated isolation having to access digital lessons in their GCSE year.
• School had to send year groups back to remote learning in 2021/22, on a rota basis, due to covid related staffing absences and although Year 11 were in school they did not have uninterrupted teaching. Some schools nationally were less impacted by teacher absence.

 How will our results be used?

The publication of results does not directly impact students at all. Students already received their own GCSE, A level and VTQ results in August. These results will be used by the government and by Ofsted if we have an inspection, with the context in which they were achieved taken into account.

How do our results compare to local schools?

As explained above, the ability to rank schools is no longer available, as the government is clear that schools cannot be compared this year. One of the measures included in the government website mentioned above is our Progress 8 figure, which is a relative measure based on students’ progress from primary school in eight subjects. A score of 0 means the school adds an average amount of progress to students. A score between 0 and 1 means the school adds an above average amount of progress to students. A score between 0 and -1 means the school adds a below average amount of progress to students. You will also be able to look at the local authority average for all the key measures, but not be able to directly compare schools.

I would like to take this opportunity to say how delighted we were to welcome back some Aureus Alumni to our Post-16 Information. We have already heard great things from their first term at College and will be celebrating their successes at our Year 12 Awards Evening on Monday 21^st November when we will hand out certificates for prize winners in each subject.

What choices did the class of 2022 make for their Post 16 provision?

As a fully comprehensive school we have students who have chosen to go on to study A Levels, BTECs or become an apprentice in a variety of settings.

 

Oxford College                    33%

Abingdon & Witney            28%

Didcot 6^th                              17%

UTC                                       4%

Apprenticeships                  4%

 

The last 14% is made up of 1 or 2 pupils going to each of:

Cokethorpe School

Wallingford School

Kingsclere College

Henley College

SOFEA

TRAX

It is worth sharing a couple of case studies about student results and their destinations. We are sharing this to show the variety of routes students can take.

Ranveer - 10 GCSEs at grade 9 - 6. Now at Didcot 6th studying A levels.

Isabella - 10 GCSEs at grade 8 - 6. Now at UTC Oxfordshire studying A levels.

Maddie - 10 GCSEs at grade 8 - 6. Now at Wallingford School studying A Levels.

Jack - 8 GCSEs at grade 7 - 5. Now at Oxford College studying A Levels.

Natalie - 9 GCSEs at grade 7 - 4. Now at BMW on an Apprenticeship.

Holly - 9 GCSEs at grade 7 - 4. Now at Kingsclere College.

As this is our first cohort taking GCSEs we will continue to share destination data over the next few years so that you can share in the successes of our students. In September 2024 we look forward to sharing some success stories where the class of 2022 have gone for post 18 provision.

GCSE Results 2022

Headteacher, Julie Hunter:

“We are absolutely delighted with this year’s *GCSE results; they reflect the incredible hard work of all students and staff. Having faced a very disrupted GCSE experience due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the results exemplify the dedication and resilience of our students. The number of students achieving grades they were delighted with was notably high.

We are thrilled that over 90% of students have been accepted into their intended post-16 destinations, with students attending a variety of courses from A Levels to Apprenticeships in local sixth forms and colleges across Oxfordshire. The hard work and success of all students in their time at Aureus School will prepare them well for their exciting next steps.

In agreement with colleagues in other schools nationally, we believe it is not appropriate to compare these results to previous years due to the nature of the grading arrangements used by the exam boards in this first post pandemic set of examination results. It is also not appropriate to compare the results of one school to another due to the uneven impact of COVID related staff and student absences in different schools.

I would like to pay tribute to the hard work of all the staff at the school who overcame significant challenges related to the pandemic over the last two years. As always, they have strived to ensure that our students received outstanding teaching, inspiring and challenging them to develop their knowledge and skills.”

25th August 2022