NO secondary schools in Worcestershire were underperforming this year, according to new Government figures.

Pupils’ Key Stage 4 results, released yesterday, show that the county’s schools are generally in good shape.

The results, available in the table below, were based on a completely new system of monitoring schools, called Progress 8.

For the first time, this year schools were not judged on the proportion of pupils scoring at least five C grades at GCSE, including in English and maths.

Instead, Progress 8 looks at the progress a pupil makes from the end of primary school to the end of secondary school.

It compares pupils’ results with the achievements of other youngsters with the same prior attainment, and measures performance across eight qualifications.

The Government has argued that this measure is fairer, because it reflects that children start secondary school at different levels of academic ability and judges schools on the progress all their pupils make.

Nunnery Wood High and Christopher Whitehead Language College, both in Worcester, and the Chantry, in Martley, are among those considered to have made the best progress for their students, with pupils achieving better grades than other students who started secondary school at the same academic level.

Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College and Hanley Castle High School, near Upton, had also gained better grades for pupils than those who started at the same point nationally.

Schools where pupils had made less progress than those that started secondary school at similar points nationally were Bishop Perowne and Tudor Grange Academy Worcester.

These schools scored a negative Progress 8 figure – although they were still above the Government’s floor standard.

The Government does not consider schools to be under performing unless they fall below a score of -0.5 on Progress 8.

Steve Powell, headteacher at Nunnery Wood, said: “I’m delighted that the hard work has brought success in terms of GCSE exams.

“Something we have been focused on is making sure the curriculum has changed to suit all ability levels including different options for different groups of students.”

Mr Powell says he is concerned that, at some schools, subjects not preferred by the Government are disappearing.

He said: “I’m passionate that even while pursuing the government-approved subjects, we have very strong results in arts subjects and keep these options alive for kids here.”

But he added: “I think Progress 8 is the fairest measure I’ve experienced.

“It looks at at huge range of subjects and students working hard and achieving at their own level are recognised.”

Neil Morris, head at Christopher Whitehead Language College, said: “Progress 8 puts us in the top 10 per cent of schools in the country.

“For Worcestershire schools to be doing that with the finance we are getting is akin to Leicester City winning the Premiership every year.”

Mark Pollard, headteacher at Bishop Perowne, said: "Bishop Perowne is a school going through a period of change and these results are a reflection of this.

"However, the progress students made in 2016 was improved (compared to 2015) and the proportion of students achieving A*-C grades in English and maths was the same as in 2015, despite having an academically weaker cohort.

"In the past 18 months we have made a whole host of positive improvements to provide a stronger learning environment which will have an impact on future results.

"Everyone who visits tells us how calm and purposeful the school feels; we are on the right path, parents and students are overwhelmingly supportive, and we are looking to the future."

Overall, 282 secondaries, educating 206,991 children, have fallen under the Government’s floor standard based on this new measure. This is around 9.3 per cent of secondaries.

Schools that are considered under-performing face intervention, and could be taken over.

How are schools now measured?

Schools are now measured on how pupils do across eight subjects.

These include English and maths, which are given double weighting, three other EBacc subjects, which include history, geography, sciences and languages, and three other GCSE subjects or non-GCSE subjects from a government-approved list.

What is the Progress 8 measure?

The Progress 8 score measures the progress of pupils from the end of primary school to the end of secondary school.

It compares the attainment of pupils at a particular school against the attainment of all pupils nationally who started at a similar academic level.

The greater the score, the greater the progress that was made during the pupils' time at secondary school.

Nationally, schools should receive at least a 0 score, which means pupils have made expected progress.

Each GCSE grade is equal to a score of one, so if a school receives an overall Progress 8 score of 1.0, pupils at that school have, on average, achieved a grade higher than other children who started at similar levels.

What is Attainment 8?

The attainment 8 figure represents the average achievement of the school's pupils across eight subjects. Schools with scores above 50 are considered to be doing well.

A level results

FIGURES released showing A level results have also changed this year.

The average total point score per student is no longer included with the emphasis on the schools' average point score per academic entry.

In Worcestershire, independent schools did well including Malvern College, The King's School, Worcester, RGS Worcester.

Also pleased with results was Hanley Castle High School.

Headteacher Lindsey Cooke said: "We are really proud of the students and they are all off at university and doing doing brilliantly well."