Best Ever 'A Level' Results boost Milton Keynes Schools and College

7.53.00pm GMT Sun 10th Feb 2008

The Government has today issued the official GCSE and Advanced Level results for all schools and colleges for students taking examinations last summer (2007). Individual school-by-school results can be found on the website of the Government's Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).

In Milton Keynes Advanced Level results show very large improvements on those for 2006 and are the best-ever results achieved by post-16 students. Top overall performers and those attaining above national performance levels were the students at Ousedale, Shenley Brook End, Walton High and Denbigh secondary schools. Results at Milton Keynes College also exceeded the national standard and those at Stantonbury were in line with the national performance level. Councillor Sandra Clark, Liberal Democrat cabinet member for children and young people, welcomed these big improvements and the support and preparation that schools and the College were giving to students going on to higher education courses.

At GCSE the achievement tables contain new information this year, with more 'value-added' data and, for the first time, results for the proportion of students who gained two or more higher grades in science subjects.

Overall results across Milton Keynes for the proportion of students gaining five or more higher-grade passes including English and maths showed improvement on those for 2006. Best performers were Denbigh, Ousedale, St Paul's, Walton and Shenley Brook End secondary schools. In science, the tables show the highest-attaining schools were Walton, Denbigh, St Paul's, Shenley Brook End, Ousedale and Stantonbury. However, both in science and for the proportion of students gaining higher grade passes, the results across Milton Keynes are still below the national levels. Councillor Sandra Clark stressed that a number of schools were involved in support programmes involving both council officers and outside consultants and that these were paying dividends. "Our expectation," she said, " is that with this extra support we will see big improvements in 2008 and beyond and quickly reach and then exceed national standards. That is our ambition."

For the first time ever, the achievement tables provide a measure of the average progress made by students at each school both from age 11 to GCSE and from aged 14 to GCSE. These 'value-added' measures, as they are known, take into account a number of factors outside of a school's control such as the gender balance and ages of the students, any movement between schools, special educational needs and family circumstances. These measures make comparisons between schools more meaningful.

The schools where students made the best progress from both age 11 and age 14 to GCSE were Shenley Brook End, St Paul's and Walton High. These progress measures also show the good work being done in local special schools - 'value-added' measures at Slated Row and White Spire are well above national figures.

The attendance levels across local secondary schools are also listed. The figure for Milton Keynes shows that there are fewer student absences than in English schools overall. Sandra Clark stressed the good work being done in all schools to improve attendance levels and praised schools for their efforts.