Ofsted Data Dashboard 2014 Report to Governors
May 2015
Ofsted Data Dashboard 2014 Report to Governors
(Data published April 2015)
There is one data sheet to accompany this report. This is a summary of the data dashboard for the
31 Cornish secondary schools. Names of schools have redacted. The spreadsheet also includes data
for a few non-Cornish selected similar schools.
1.0 Background
The School Data Dashboard provides a snapshot of school performance at Key Stages 1, 2 and 4. The
dashboard can be used by school governors and by members of the public to check the performance
of the school. Its value lies in its simplicity but that is also its weakness; this needs to be born in mind
when considering any conclusions that attempt to be drawn about the school as a whole. Despite its
obvious limitations it remains a useful source of information to encourage comparisons between
schools and stimulate questions. When used alongside performance tables and RAISE the three
sources of data provide a comprehensive if repetitive information set.
2.0 Questions for governors
The data dashboard encourages governors to think about what the data is showing by asking them a
series of guiding questions.
3.0 Performance indicators included in this report.
The School Data Dashboard complements the Ofsted school inspection report, RAISE and DfE
performance Tables by providing an analysis of school performance but only in a restricted number
of areas:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Attainment: 5+A*-C including English and maths
Attainment: English A*-C (based on whole cohort and GCSE/iGCSEs only)
Attainment: maths A*-C (based on whole cohort and GCSE/iGCSEs only)
Expected progress: proportion achieving 3 levels of progress or more in English
Expected progress: proportion achieving 3 levels of progress or more in maths
Attainment and entry in science: two figures 1) based on proportion of Yr11 cohort entered
for GCSE; 2) proportion of those students achieving A*-C
7. Attendance (at school level not specific to Y11)
8. Closing the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils: progress in English
9. Closing the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils: progress in mathematics
Disadvantaged students are defined as children looked after (CLA) and those eligible for free
school meals at any point during the last six years (FSM/Ever6).
The emphasis on English and maths (attainment and progress) means that effectively if there are any
issues of under-performance in either English or maths, or both, the overall judgement will impact
across the school regardless of how well all the other subjects perform. English and maths are ‘high
stakes’ subjects critical to the way a school will be judged.
Whilst nearly all students in a year group will sit English and maths GCSEs the same is not true of
science. The dashboard science score needs to treated with a little caution. In science students can
be entered for BTEC, triple sciences or double award science. This can have quite an effect on the
exam entry for this science performance indicator. Entries range from just 35% of the year group at
Bodmin College to Callington’s 95%. At SJS 63% of the year group were entered of which 80%
achieved grades A*-C.
4.0 Best 8 Value Added (a broader measure of achievement)
Rather than just relying on English, maths and science, Best 8 Value Added data has been copied
from the DfE Performance Tables 2014 and added to the spreadsheet. This shows how well a school
has done across a range of subjects. Out of 31 Cornish secondary schools, Sir Jim’s is ranked 14th
with a VA score of 1000. Our neighbouring North Cornwall schools are as follows: Bodmin 965;
Budehaven 982; Launceston 1006; Wadebridge 1029 making it top in Cornwall. Penair School
languishes in rank 31 with a score of 940. Students at Launceston College scored 6 points more than
students at Sir Jim’s, this equates to one GCSE grade better. At Bodmin students achieved one grade
less across 6 subjects ( 6x6 = 36) compared to SJS.
Best 8 VA can be used alongside the data dashboard. Treviglas is an example of a school with good
dashboard outcomes in English (79%) and maths (75%) yet has a Best 8 VA score of just 976 (4
grades worse than SJS). This suggests the school could be focusing on the basics at the expense of
the wider curricular offer.
The best school for purposes of comparison is one with a very good Best 8 VA score (which means
good across the board) and a very positive dashboard (which means good at English and maths), a
good example in Cornwall is Looe or Okehampton in Devon.
5.0 School context
Any measures of attainment and/or progress (refer to points 1-9 above) do not take into account
additional contextual factors such as deprivation or levels of special needs. The assumption is that
these will already be reflected in the prior attainment of the students.
6.0 Comparing schools: Similar Schools and All Schools
This is, in theory, a strength of the dashboard with the caveat that actual numerical differences
between quintiles can be small e.g. a school with 94.4% attendance is placed in the 3rd quintile,
94.6% is in the 2nd quintile – even a difference of 0.2 is deemed significant!
6.1 Similar schools (Sim)
SJS has been assigned to its own group of similar schools nationally using prior attainment based on
KS2 average point scores. The list for overall % can be seen below. The similar schools lists for
English and maths are very different; this reflects differences in English and maths KS2 outcomes.
Schools in the similar schools group have similar prior attainment and are predicted to achieve
similar outcomes for their students. In reality outcomes vary across the schools with some achieving
outstanding outcomes. There is of course no indicator to show different levels of funding, something
which schools in London and larger cities enjoy compared to Cornish schools.
The screen print shows most of the SJS similar schools group of 50+ schools. Two are in Cornwall,
Cape Cornwall (65 miles) and Looe (38 miles), and a couple in the west country, The West Somerset
Community College, Minehead (87 miles) and Tiverton High School (72 miles). Dashboard profiles
for these schools are attached. Most of the schools with good outcomes are located between 200
miles and 400 miles from Camelford which means school visits are unlikely.
When the three similar schools lists are combined it is possible to pick out other schools within
Devon and Cornwall. They are:




Lipson Co-operative Academy, Plymouth
Bodmin College
St Michael’s Free School, Camborne
Okehampton
6.2 Outcomes: 5+ A*-C range
In this group of similar schools , the highest 5+A*-C outcomes (76%) were achieved by Northwood
School, London (248 miles) which has benefited from the London Challenge Scheme. Birches Head
Academy, Stoke-on-Trent (256 miles) managed just 28%. Sir Jim’s at 46% (54% in 2013) lies 32nd .
RANK
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
School
Northwood School
Hodge Hill Girls'
Loxford School
Rossington Academy
Millfield College
Consett Academy
Jo Richardson Academy
The Derby High School
Longsdale College
Holyhead School
Wrotham School
Harris Academy Merton
Settle College
Looe Academy
The Lacon Childe School
Tiverton High School
Kemnal Technology
Banbury Academy
The Ferrerrs School
Alderman Peel High
Corpus Christi
Woodlands Academy
The Wordsley School
Hodge Hill Sports
Manshead Upper Sch
Whitstone
Landau Forte Academy
The Archbishop's School
Stanley Park High
Medina Collge
Lostock College
Sir Jim's
Town
5ACEM
London
76
Birmingham
72
Ilford
70
Doncaster
64
Thorton-Cleveleys
62
Consett
60
Dagenham
60
Bury
60
Leicester
59
Birmingham
59
Sevenoaks
59
Mitcham
58
Settle
58
Cornwall
57
Kidderminster
55
Tiverton
53
Sidcup
53
Banbury
52
Rushden
52
Wells-next-the-Sea
51
Leeds
50
Coventry
50
Stourbridge
50
Birmingham
50
Luton
50
Shepton Mallet
49
Tamworth
49
Cantebury
48
Carshalton
48
Newport
48
Manchester
47
Cornwall
46
Dist
248
221
302
313
338
419
297
311
259
221
249
234
351
38
208
72
256
213
288
366
337
235
214
222
270
126
240
289
232
155
298
0
This chart can be used to identify comparator schools. It is reasonable to assume SJS should be
looking at outcomes between 50-60% (shaded blue). Of the 15 or so schools, only two are within a
reasonable travelling distance (75 miles). The two schools are Looe Academy and Tiverton High
School.
6.3 How can this group of schools be used to help SJS?
Where individual schools in the same ‘similar’ schools group perform very well compared to other
schools with a similar ability cohort obvious questions spring to mind:
What are they doing that works? Can we learn from their practice? Will it work for us?
There are a couple of things we already know about some of our local schools, things that apply to
similar schools elsewhere:
1. Students were entered for iGCSE English and/or maths which produced some extraordinary
results. Camborne School has benefited from this approach. Hayle is another school where
English and maths outcomes have been distorted by iGCSE entry – look at English
2. Some schools are lucky enough to have excellent teachers in consistently high performing
stable English and maths teams even if there are issues with standards in other core subjects
e.g. science at Looe Academy. Unfortunately, SJS has had to manage staffing issues in maths
(recruitment, illness, underperformance and long term absence) for several years.
In schools where intakes are slightly below or significantly below national averages governors need
to see how well the school compares against similar schools because this is a fairer comparison than
against all schools. This point is developed further in the last section.
6.4 If the government has provided a list of similar schools why do we still refer to Cornish
comparator schools?
1. They are geographically close and therefore easy to visit
2. There are a number of small and very small schools in Cornwall which face similar
constraints (staffing, grouping arrangements, curriculum and so on)
3. There are a number of very small schools in rural settings with all the additional challenges
stemming from such rurality/sparsity
4. Most are funded at a similar level
5. Many have similar levels of deprivation and are set in areas with similar levels of restricted
employment opportunity
6. Support networks are already in place to identify and share good practice e.g. Small
Secondary Schools Group (SSSG) and the Getting to Great (G2G) group.
There is little point in comparing SJS to the large 11-18 Harris Academy in South Norwood , a school
which benefits from large and extensive support networks (Harris and London Challenge), access to
huge range of facilities and expertise and generous levels of funding compared to that granted to a
Cornish maintained school So even though our APS might be similar there is little else that is!
7.0 All Schools (All)
‘All Schools’ is defined as all maintained and academy secondary schools, along with city technology
colleges and special schools. ‘All Schools’ also means grammar and other selective schools (religion,
gender). In this comparison the ability of students ranges from the very weakest to the most able.
The KS2 average point school provides a good indication of ability. The KS2 average point scores for
the 31 Cornish secondary schools and a selection of the DfE/Ofsted similar schools can be viewed in
the DfE Performance Tables summary charts circulated to governors earlier in the year. Governors
will know that SJS has year groups that are always slightly below national average ability and often
significantly below national average ability on intake.
8.0 Quintiles
The School Data Dashboard includes quintiles. These are used to help with comparisons and make it
easier to see how a school compares with ‘all schools’ and ‘similar schools’. A quintile is a statistical
grouping splitting the data into five sections, with approximately 20% of the data held in each:
1st quintile Highest
Top 20%
nd
2 quintile
3rd quintile
Middle 20%
th
4 quintile
5th quintile Lowest
Bottom 20%
The summary spreadsheet uses the same colours.
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
The ‘All Schools’ quintiles will contain approximately 500 schools, however these groups do not
necessarily have the same number in them because identical percentages would be allocated to the
same quintile. The ‘Similar Schools’ quintiles are calculated in a different way with the result that
similar school groups tend to be much smaller (50+) and the range in data from the highest to the
lowest tends to be much smaller.
9.0 Data Summary Sheet
There is one data summary sheet showing the dashboard outcomes for the 31 Cornish school and a
number of similar schools outside Cornwall. Please note that the second data sheet covers 61 other
similar schools nationally.
Notes:
Column
D
Description
Best 8 VA
E
Ability
F
Yr11 nos
G
Overall %
H
I
Sim sch
All schools
Meaning
Score. Scores above 1000 indicate value has been added from that expected
given the starting point.+/- 6 points equates to one grade better/worse.
Rank score. This shows rank position out of 31 Cornish schools with 1 the
most able intake and 31 the weakest. The ability of the cohort is based on
KS2 average point score. Differences of even 0.1 and 0.2 are significant as >
500,000 students fall between APS 26 and 32. Refer to performance table
summary.
Number in year group. . SJS is very small. Its size acts as a constraint and
limits what it can do. Larger schools have the staffing capacity to get
involved in many more initiatives and share workload amongst many more
colleagues. Sir Jim’s has the staffing capacity of a large primary school but
the demands placed upon it are similar to those of the largest secondary!
5+ACEM. This is the benchmark soon to be phased out for Progress 8 and
Attainment 8.
Score. Similar schools quintile score 1-5 for overall %.
Score. All schools quintile score 1-5 for overall %
J
English A-C % English achieving grade C or above.
K
Sim sch
Score. Similar schools quintile score 1-5 for English %
L
All schools Score. All schools quintile score 1-5 for English %
Columns M – Y repeat for maths, science, progress in English and progress in maths
Z
Atten
Attendance %. Most schools lie between 93% and 96%. As noted earlier a
difference of 0.2 could place a school in a higher or lower quintile.
AA
Sim
Score. Similar schools quintile score 1-5 for attendance %
AB
E Gap
English % gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students.
Should be less than 20%
AC
M Gap
Maths % gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students.
Should be less than 20%
AD
Tot SIM
Score. This adds together the similar schools quintile scores for each school.
There are 7 such scores. It shows how an individual school performs against
its group of similar schools nationally. The best score possible would be 7
and the worst possible 35. This score compares a school against schools
with similar intakes and is the better indicator.
AE
Tot ALL
Score. This adds together the ALL schools quintile scores. There are 7 such
scores. The best score possible would be 7 and the worst possible 35. This
score compares a school against all schools regardless of intake. If a school
with below average intakes scores 1 or 2 they have done a remarkably good
job.
AF
Difference This score is an overall performance indicator. It shows the difference
between similar and all schools score. Score should be 0 or positive. Where
the difference is a negative score it suggests the school is not performing as
well as it should. This is important for schools with weaker intakes because
when compared against ALL schools the quintile score might be 4 or 5, but
when compared against SIM schools the quintile score might be 1,2 or3.
Similarly schools with able intakes might score well against ALL schools but
when compared against schools with similarly able intakes their
performance might merit 3, 4 or 5.
AG
RANK SIM
This puts data in column AD in rank order and gives an idea about the
relative performance of each Cornish school compared to its respective
similar schools group.
AH
RANK ALL
This puts data in column AE in rank order and gives an idea about the
relative performance of each Cornish school compared to its respective ALL
schools group.
9.0 Comparative performance index
It is possible to use comparisons between similar-schools and all-schools to provide another way of
looking at how well schools perform. The all-schools quintile score provides a benchmark against
which the similar-schools quintile score can be measured. The all-schools total quintile score for SJS
is 26 but it’s similar-schools quintile score is 24 a positive difference of 2 which suggests it did
slighter better when compared like-for-like. Richard Lander’s all-schools total quintile school is 19
(better than SJS), but when compared to schools with a similar ability the total quintile score
increases to 27 a difference of negative 8 which suggests they didn’t do as well as expected.
Table has been removed
The table above shows that the 31 Cornish schools are split between those with a positive residual
and those with a negative residual. When choosing schools to research data can be used to identify:
1. those with positive residuals (see table above)
2. those with higher outcomes (the lowest total quintile scores)
Ideally we need to identify those with higher outcomes and positive residual i.e. they had better
quintile scores than SJS but they also performed better than their group of similar schools. This can
be shown using a scatter graph.
Comparative performance
35
30
All schools
25
20
15
10
5
0
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Similar schools
The schools lying above the line all perform positively, SJS is indicated. The further above this line
the stronger the relative performance; the further below the line the weaker the relative
performance. In terms of absolute achievement schools farther to the left achieve better.
Conclusion.


SJS needs both English and maths to improve attainment and progress outcomes.
School visits are likely to 3 schools