POOLE’S troubled St Aldhelm’s Academy is again among the worst performing schools in the country.

Just 17 per cent of the school’s Year 11 pupils gained the national benchmark standard of at least five GCSEs at grades A*-C, including English and maths.

Three years ago the Herbert Avenue school was ranked bottom in England with just three per cent but the summers of 2012 and 2013 saw improvements to 28 per cent, then 31.

But last summer’s results, published today, reveal the Academy has slipped down the rankings again.

A government inspection carried out in October rated the school as Inadequate and it was placed in special measures.

The school is also in financial difficulty after staff fell prey to an email scam and lost £1.1 million.

Inspectors slammed literacy and numeracy skills, inadequate teaching and said students are not being prepared for employment, apprenticeships or to continue in education.

A new interim Principal, Amanda Bibby, has been appointed and she has stressed changes are underway.

When appointed to the role, she told the Daily Echo: “The governors and senior leadership team were well aware of the issues and challenges and had already put in place robust measures to move forward.

“We are already on our way with making an impact. We know what needs to be done and are moving on it.”

And Vicky Wales, head of children, young people and learning at the Borough of Poole, pledged support and added: “We will support the Department for Education and Regional Schools Commissioner t improve outcomes for all students as a matter of urgency.”

Glenmoor was the highest placed secondary school in Bournemouth, apart from the grammar and fee-paying schools.

An impressive 69 per cent of its pupils reached the benchmark standard at GCSE with the boys at neighbouring Winton recording a figure of 55 per cent.

A spokesman told the Daily Echo: “Glenmoor and Winton Academies are incredibly proud of the continued success of all its students. Glenmoor Academy achieved record GCSE results last year making it the top performing non-selective school in Bournemouth.

“The continued success at both Glenmoor and Winton Academies is testament to the hard work and dedication of students, staff and parents/carers.

With GCSE results predicted to rise again this year and the appointment of a new Principal, Ben Antell, exciting times lay ahead for everyone connected with Glenmoor and Winton.”

AT nearby BISHOP OF WINCHESTER ACADEMY there were also record GCSE results which were 11 percentage points above the national average.

“We are incredibly proud of, and immensely pleased for the students of the class of 2014” said a spokesman.

“This year group showed great dedication and commitment to see through their studies and achieve the record results for the Academy in the process.

“It is especially pleasing that the headline figure is up on last year, which was also a record result. This demonstrates a firm consolidation of increase in achievement at the Academy.”

Academy students achieved four times as many GCSE A* grades compared to the previous year and this is despite the drop in number of students achieving these grades nationally.

Progress in both English and maths were significantly above the national average with many other subject area also celebrating excellent results.

MAGNA ACADEMY in Poole was the top performing, non-grammar in the borough.

Principal Richard Tutt told the Daily Echo: "These results are a reflection of the massive amount of hard work by students and staff at Magna Academy.

"This is just the beginning of our journey and we are on track to be in the op two per cent nationally for value added in 2015."

 

PETER McNutt, Strategy Leader Secondary for Bournemouth Borough Council, said: “Pupils in Bournemouth have had another successful year of achievement with many schools seeing a rise in the number of pupils achieving 5 A*-C grades including English and Maths.
It demonstrates the dedication of students, and of the staff and families in supporting young people in their efforts. We will continue to work with our schools and academies towards further successes and offer them support where it is required.”
Cllr Janet Walton, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Families and Young People, Borough of Poole, said: “We are pleased with the Key Stage 4 results which the young people of Poole have achieved this year, with many individual and school successes.
“The schools have effectively managed the national changes to examinations and reporting arrangements which have made it difficult to compare these results to last year’s.
“We will continue to work in partnership with all of our secondary schools over the next year to ensure that results improve still further.”

 

CHRISTCHURCH head teacher Dr Terry Fish, pictured above, has warned parents against choosing schools based on league tables alone.
In an article written for the Daily Echo, the Twynham School head referred to a recent study carried out on behalf of teaching union, the NASUWT.
“Whilst I was delighted with the GCSE and A-Level results of Twynham’s students last year and we continue to celebrate their outstanding success, what I feel is particularly encouraging is that it appears that only 29 per cent of parents actually look at the league tables when choosing where to send their child to school.
“Furthermore, only 21 per cent said that a school’s league table position was important to them when choosing an institution.
“The study of 1,019 UK parents asked them to list the activities they undertook before choosing a school and also the most important factors in making their decision.
“The survey discovered that location is the most important factor, a supportive staff was second and the curriculum third.
 “What is so encouraging is that parents can see through the ‘league tables’ and understand that schools simply can’t be summed up by its ranking. Schools are far more complex than this.
“Interestingly, the whole way in which schools are being measured, in league tables, is being changed since the government has recognised that far too many schools have simply focused on a relatively small number of students to improve their league table position.
“It is also true that some schools did not advise their students appropriately about the courses they should follow, all because of the impact of league tables.
“It is also worth considering that the highest performing countries in the world do not have league tables.
“Countries such as Singapore and Finland understand that they simply do not work and instead of spending a small fortune on compiling and publishing them, they focus on the quality and professional development of their teachers.
“I wonder what our schools could achieve if we did the same?

NATIONAL STATISTICS

  • 68.8 per cent of GCSEs were passed at grades A*-C
  • 98.5 per cent of GCSEs were passed at grades A*-G
  • 6.7 per cent were passed at the top grade of A*
  • 62.4 per cent of students gained a grade C or above in maths
  • 61.7 per cent gained a grade C or above in English.