School improvement data & results

The DfE has confirmed that it will not publish any school or college level educational performance data based on tests, assessments or exams for 2020. The following data relates to 2019 school improvement results at academies which were part of the Aldridge Education family of schools in September 2019, either as part of our multi-academy trust or where we are a sponsor.

Contextual Data

Children entering Aldridge Education schools from primary stage are all, on average, -1.69 behind their peers nationally.

This reflects our focus on working with schools serving disadvantaged communities and our commitment that everyone has the right to expect an exciting, engaging and relevant education, regardless of who they are, or where they live.

The percentage of students entitled to Pupil Premium is significantly higher than national averages in the majority of our MAT academies – ranging from 4% to 35% above national. Similarly, the percentage of students with SEND needs is significantly higher than national averages in most of our MAT's academies – ranging from 1% to 32% above national.

Sixth-Form Key Stage 5 A-Level and Equivalent Qualification Data

ATTAINMENT

Darwen Aldridge Community Academy Sixth-Form continued its impressive record this year with a pass rate that exceeded the national average, with nearly 45% of A-Level passes at the very highest grades. Performance in vocational qualifications was equally strong. Overall 3 in 4 students accepted offers for university places, approximately two-thirds of whom were the first members of their family to attend. DACA is currently our largest of our sixth form and we are proud of their ongoing performance with their Level 3 Value Added score likely to place them in the top 20% nationally for academic performance.

Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio also had strong A-Level results (100% pass with 52% at highest grades) and solid vocational results. Vocational results at UTC@harbourside showed a significant improvement with strong outcomes for the 2019 cohort.

PROGRESS

Secondary School Key Stage 4 GCSE Data

ENGLISH AND MATHS

Combined passes

2019 saw improvements in attainment at the majority of mainstream Aldridge secondary schools.

At Brighton Aldridge Community Academy English results shot up with 9-5 grades rising by 20% and 9-4 grades rising by 7%. Attainment 8 also rose for the second year running and by nearly 3 points from 2018. EBACC attainment measures also rose from 2018.

DACA saw a significant increase with combined English and maths rising by 8% from 2018 at both 5+ and 4+. Duke’s maths results rose by 1% in 2019 and across all subjects, more students gained at least one grade 9 (10.6%). Modern Foreign Language results are strong at Duke's Aldridge Academy with 84% of students gaining at least a grade 4 at GCSE.

Performance in Science at Portslade Aldridge Community Academy improved in 2019 with 11.4% of entries gaining 7+, 53% gaining 5+ and 70% gaining 4+. 10% of students gained a 7+ in MFL.

At the Aldridge UTC@MediaCityUK, overall attainment rose by nearly 2 points with 5+ English and maths rising by 10% and 4+ English and maths rising by 4%.

A-Typical Entry Point Key Stage 4 GCSE Data

Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio school, the Aldridge UTC@MediaCityUK and the UTC@harbourside were all atypical point of entry schools with GCSE results in August 2019.

Students enter the Studio at Year 9 and enter the UTCs at Year 10. They have either undertaken Key Stage 2 at other schools or, in some cases, been home educated until this point. Each of these schools has a specialist focus to the curriculum they provide and do not follow all elements of the National Curriculum. However, all students study English, maths and Science alongside their specialist subjects.

We have seen progress in all of our schools with atypical points of entry. At UTC@harbourside, results at 4+ in English and maths shot up by a staggering 29%.

The Studio school also saw significant gains in attainment with Attainment 8 rising by 5.4 points – meaning that students have achieved on average at half a grade higher across all of their progress 8 subjects than they did in 2018. Combined 5+ results rose by 7% and 4+ results by 11%.

At the Aldridge UTC@MediaCityUK, overall attainment rose by nearly 2 points with 5+ English and maths rising by 10% and 4+ English and maths rising by 4%.

PROGRESS 8 & ATTAINMENT 8

It is positive to see improvements in Attainment 8 and Progress 8 for the majority of our schools. Brighton Aldridge Community Academy has seen a shift of close to 0.3 in its progress measure and a rise of 3 points in its Attainment 8 figure, suggesting that performance from starting points across a range of subjects has improved.

Darwen Aldridge Community Academy has moved by 0.18 in its progress measure and Darwen Vale has seen a highly significant rise of 0.44 in its progress measure since summer 2018. Kensington Aldridge Academy had its first set of GCSE outcomes this summer and, despite the tragic circumstances of the adjacent Grenfell Tower fire in which the school was operating for this cohort, saw students performing in line with national expectations. Both Duke's and Portslade Aldridge Community Academy have also performed in line with national expectations.

Both the Government and Ofsted are clear that progress and attainment 8 measures are not appropriate indicators for judging the performance of schools exempt from typical curriculum provision. Nonetheless, we can report that all three of our schools meeting this definition have improved their outcomes across the board such that progress and attainment indicators have risen in each of them since 2018.

Primary School Key Stage 1 & 2

Sudell Primary School is currently the only primary school in the multi-academy trust.

Early Years

Phonics

Key Stage 1

Key Stage 2

The progress at Sudell Primary School in July 2019 has been excellent with significant jumps in all areas at Key Stage 2, such that the school is now performing above the national standard in combined reading, writing and maths and significantly above it in maths. Students at Sudell also perform in line with national averages for greater depth and at a slightly higher standard than Blackburn with Darwen overall.

Leaders at Sudell have focused relentlessly on school improvement to effect these changes.The quality of teaching has improved and forensic tracking of individual pupil performance has meant that gaps could be closed day by day. Expectations are set high by leaders at Sudell and the impact of this shows through in the Key Stage 2 results in 2019. Staff at Sudell have been well-supported by staff from a local Aldridge secondary school and by the northern Trust Leads in English and maths, who have worked with Sudell leaders in a combined approach to fill learning gaps and improve outcomes.

The school continues to improve its capacity through development of staffing and seeks to maintain and build on 2019 performance in future years.

Data on the Government's Compare School Performance website for the Aldridge Education multi-academy trust can be found on this link.

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