PARENTS in Swindon will now be able to see how well their child’s school performed in last year’s GCSE and A-level exams as new national league tables were released yesterday.

Head teachers whose schools performed particularly well have praised pupils and staff for their hard work throughout the academic year.

It is the first time new measures – known as Progress 8 and Attainment 8 – have been used to give a better understanding of a school’s performance.

Progress 8 looks at the progress a pupil makes from the end of primary school to the end of secondary school and is measured across eight qualifications. It compares pupils’ results with the achievements of other pupils that have the same prior attainment.

The school with the highest Progress 8 score was Swindon Academy, whose 0.20 just pipped Lydiard Park Academy’s 0.19 to grab the top spot.

Ruth Robinson, principal at Swindon Academy, said: “We are really proud of the incredible hard work of staff over the last five years. We are absolutely thrilled to come out top in the Progress 8 category as it means that pupils will be able to stay on in sixth form, on courses of their choosing, before going off to some of the best universities in the country.

“Progress 8 is very useful because it takes into account pupils’ starting points, and shows the value that is then added over the five years. It really recognises the progress each child makes.”

Ruth focused on some of the things that she thought contributed to the school’s success. She said: “We have sky-high expectations right across the school. We expect excellent behaviour, good manners and, as a result, we provide pupils with disruption-free learning.”

Ruth also singled out the school’s secondary head teacher Karen Stokes for her hard work and dedication.

The school with the highest percentage of pupils achieving A*-C in both maths and English was St Joseph’s Catholic College, which saw 73 per cent of students gain a good grade at GCSE.

Just following St Josephs in the above category was Lydiard Park Academy and The Ridgeway School and Sixth Form College, both of whom tied on 71 per cent.

Paul Hughes, principal of St Joseph’s, said: “We are very pleased, particularly with the maths and English results. It shows how hard staff and pupils have worked throughout the year.

St Joseph’s Progress 8 score was 0.12, which put them in a comfortable third place.

Speaking about the impact of Progress 8, Paul said: “I think it’s a really good way to measure progress. For a long time we have, I think, been too hung up on the magic C grade and it’s good to be able to measure a child’s progress over a set period of time. It means that every child matters, which is very important.”

The Ridgeway also had impressive A-level results, topping the table with the highest average score per academic entry and the highest average score per applied general entry qualification.

The academic score includes A-levels as well as other academic qualifications such as the International Baccalaureate Diploma. The applied general entry qualification involves Pearson BTEC Level 3 courses.

Ridgeway principle James Povoas said: “We are absolutely delighted with the results. The A-level results really were outstanding in a number of areas and showed real improvement of student outcomes.”

At the bottom of the table for GCSE results was UTC Swindon, which had the lowest percentage of pupils scoring A*-C in both maths and English as well as the lowest Progress 8 score of -1.19. However, UTC achieved the highest tech level entry score in the school’s A-levels.

Jon Oliver, deputy principal at UTC, explained that as the national measures are taken across Years 7 to 11, UTC is at a disadvantage as, being a technical college, it takes students from Years 10 to 11.

He said: “The national figures don’t take things like this into account. Also they don’t take into account the fact that some students come to us without having any Key Stage 2 qualifications. Some pupils, for example, were home schooled when they were younger, but they have been some of our highest performing pupils.

“This country needs tens of thousands of skilled engineers and that is why UTCs have been set up.

“That’s what we are here for and that’s what we achieved with our Year 13s last year.”

Jon acknowledged that the college’s results were not what they wanted them to be and he stressed their commitment to improving them.