Sue Rogers Director of Education KGA Presentation GCSE and Post 16 plus Closing the Gap

The national validated GCSE and Post-16 results for 2013 were published by the DfE on 23 January. Overall the results for Kent are good. On most measures they are mostly improving and above the national averages. The results at Key Stage 4 show Kent’s performance at 5 or more GCSE A*-C grades including English and maths improved to 63%, compared to 61% in This is 4% above the national figure of 59%. Underlying this, 70.5% of young people achieved an English or maths qualification at C grade or above, but not both. However, nearly 1,000 young people did not achieve even a Level 1 in either qualification. As a result, 5,000 students at post 16 need to continue working towards GCSE Level 2 in maths or English, or maths and English, in This represents a significant challenge.

Kent is ranked 3 rd in our statistical neighbours group, where the average is 61% for grades at 5 A*-C with E & M. Kent’s ranked position nationally is 47 out of 150 local authority areas, the same position as The highest performing local authority achieved 71%. Performance in English A*-C grades was 71%, which is 5% above the NA, and in maths performance was 71% which is in line with the NA. In Science performance in A*-C grades was better, at 75% just above the NA. Expected rates of progress at Key Stage 4 (3 levels of progress between Key Stages 2 and 4) also improved this year, by 4% in English to 73%, and by 1% in maths to 72%. Both these figures are above the NA of 70% in English and 71% in mathematics.

Performance at 5 or more A*-C grades overall remained the same as 2012, at 86% compared to the NA of 82%. Performance at 5 or more A*-G grades was 2% above the NA, at 96% compared to the of 94%. This is a good indication of the success of Kent schools’ inclusive approach to securing educational qualifications for the vast majority of pupils by age 16. The percentage of young people achieving the English Baccalaureate was 25%, compared to the national average of 23%.

Overall 75% of secondary schools improved or maintained their GCSE performance in 2013, including a small number of schools that declined by no more than 1%. Nine secondary schools performed below the floor standard of 40% of pupils achieving five good GCSE grades with English and mathematics compared to 19 schools in The gender gap in attainment of five good GCSE grades including English and maths widened to 9% compared to 8% in In 2013, 58% of boys and 67% of girls attained this level of achievement

. The GCSE attainment gap between pupils eligible for FSM and their peers for 5 or more good grades including English and maths widened to 34.5% compared to 33.4% in This has not improved in the last three years and is still significantly greater than the national figure of 27%. The national FSM gap at Key Stage 4 is reducing at a faster rate compared to Kent, which is very disappointing. The average gap for our statistical neighbours is 30%. At the same time, between 2011 and 2013, outcomes for pupils on free school meals achieving five good GCSEs including English and maths improved by about 9%.

In 2013, 33% of FSM pupils achieved 5 or more good GCSEs with English and mathematics compared to 38% nationally. There remains a significant gap between FSM pupils and non FSM pupils in both three levels of progress in English of 23% and maths at 27%. This gap narrowed by 2.1% and 1.4% respectively since Whilst this is positive the gap needs to narrow at a much faster rate in future years. Pupils with SEN achieved better outcomes in The SEN achievement gap narrowed at Key Stage 4 by nearly 4% to 44%. For pupils without a statement 33% achieved 5 or more good GCSEs with English and mathematics compared to 27% nationally.

Performance at post-16 improved on some indicators in 2013 but on other measures performance was below the national average. The percentage of students achieving two or more A Level passes (or equivalent) increased to 96% compared to 92% in 2012 and the national average of 97%. A new indicator for two or more substantial Level 3 qualifications was introduced this year, with Kent at 91.1% compared to a national figure of 92.3%.

Kent’s Average Points Score per entry improved to 214, in line with the national result. In Kent, 41 schools performed above the national average on this measure. 30 schools performed below expectations when compared with their students’ Key Stage 4 points on entry. The Average Points Score per student also improved to 745, compared to a national result of 706 for state funded schools and 724 for all schools. The greatest improvement was in the number of students gaining three or more A and B grades which improved from 5% in 2012 to 8.7% in 2013, compared to 7.5% nationally for state funded schools. However, the percentage of students achieving three or more A* and A grades is 11.7% compared to 12.5% nationally.

In the national rankings, out of 150 local authorities, Kent is ranked 93 for performance on two or more A level passes, 24 for average points score per student, 33 for average points score per entry and 32 for students achieving three or more A and B grades. A number of factors undermining performance at Advanced level are linked to the size of the Sixth Form and the curriculum offer. There is a clear correlation between the size of sixth form and the level of outcomes. Our analysis of GCSE prior attainment compared to A Level performance, shows that students in small sixth forms are underperforming by approximately one grade per student.

Another challenge in Kent is to improve the standards achieved by young people aged 19 from low income backgrounds at Levels 2 and 3. These outcomes are below the national average, the achievement gap for Level 2 is 32% in Kent compared to 25% nationally and it is not closing quickly enough. These issues are priorities for improvement in the Learning and Skills Strategy.

Narrowing the Gap In Kent

The FSM Gaps in Kent Over the last few years Kent FSM achievement gaps have not reduced in line with national figures and are wider than national gaps In the EYFS the achievement gap between disadvantaged children and other children is 25%, compared to 37% nationally. This is the fifth best nationally. At KS1 the gaps are 16% (R), 18% (W) and 11% (M) compared to 12%, 15% and 9% nationally At KS2 there was a significant gap reduction (5%) in 2012 but none in 2013, the gap was 25% with no change compared to National KS2 gap is 19% At KS2, 53% FSM pupils attained L4 combined, compared to 78% non FSM pupils in 2013, compared to 60% fsm pupils and 79% non fsm pupils nationally

At KS4 no gap reduction, 34% compared to 26% nationally. In Kent 33% FSM pupils attained 5 GCSE inc En and Ma compared to 67% non FSM pupils in 2013 At post 16, the achievement gap for level 2 at age 19 is 24%, compared to 15% nationally, a slight improvement compared to 2012

FSM Gaps in Kent Gaps get wider as children get older EYFSKS2KS4Post 16 25% 34%24% National 37%19%26%15%

% ENG *% MATHS Non FSM8387 Non FSM8286 FSM FSM6067 GAP242120GAP2219 * Reading and Writing aggregated Kent - End of Key Stage 2

% 5A*-C EM ALL Non-FSM FSM GAP Kent - End of Key Stage 4

The Challenge to Close the Gap

AT KEY STAGE 2 In 2014 there will be 2456 FSM pupils in the cohort…….compared to 2323 in 2013 To reduce the FSM gap to 20%, 243 more pupils need to achieve L4 in Reading, Writing and Maths, and 365 more pupils need to achieve this to reduce the gap to 15%

AT KEY STAGE 2 If each Primary School agreed to target 1 extra student… more FSM students would achieve L4+ Reading, Writing and Maths If each of the 350 larger Primary Schools agreed to target 2 extra students (and the rest 1)… more FSM students would achieve L4+ Reading, Writing and Maths If 800 more FSM students achieved L4+ Reading, Writing and Maths …There would be NO GAP

AT KEY STAGE 4 In 2014 there will be 2018 FSM pupils in the cohort……. To reduce the FSM gap to 30%, 135 more pupils need to achieve 5+ A*-C EM, and 236 more pupils need to achieve this to reduce the gap to 25%

AT KEY STAGE 4 If each High School agreed to target 5 extra students… more FSM students would achieve 5+ A*-C EM If each Selective School agreed to target 2 extra students….. 30 more FSM students would achieve 5+ A*-C EM

If 380 more FSM students achieve 5 A*-C EM We would HALVE the Gap Key Stage 4 5A*-C EM ALL Non-FSM FSM GAP

AT KEY STAGE 4 If each High School agreed to target 10 extra students… more FSM students would achieve 5+ A*-C EM If each Selective School agreed to target 2 extra students….. 60 more FSM students would achieve 5+ A*-C EM If 760 more FSM students achieved 5 A*-C EM there would be NO GAP