GCSE Results Day is the pinnacle of the academic year. After 5 years of hard work students get to find out their results and make decisions about 'what next' in their lives, hopefully using their grades to give them access to Post-16, College or Apprenticeships. The school is pleased to report that 2018 looks to be another wonderful year for the students of West Bridgford School. The examinations landscape has changed significantly in the past several years, with new '9-1' grades and new school measures, making year-on-year comparisons difficult, however, early indications suggest that the class of 2018 has done the West Bridgford community proud.

On the 'Students achieving a grade 5 or better in English and Maths' measure, '5' being the governments 'strong pass' threshold, 80% of students hit the target. (For 2018 a 75% strong pass rate puts the school in the top 5% of schools nationally, so this is a phenomenal achievement for the English and Maths Departments). This is up from 77% last year.

On the 'Achievement 8' measure the school managed a score of '6.3', or the equivalent of a strong 'B' grade as an average grade achieved. This was up from 6.0 last year.

Most importantly for the school, and most impressively when taking into account the wonderful job our local Primary and Junior schools do, our 'Progress 8' has also significantly improved this year.  Progress 8 measures schools not just on the results that pupils achieve, but on how much progress they have made since they started secondary school. How much value has the school added, over and above, what might be expected in comparison to all other schools in the UK? Last year the pupils achieved a P8 of 0.56, or around half a grade above what might be expected in each GCSE they took. This year, our initial analysis suggests that when the government 'P8' tables are published later in the year, the pupils will have managed an astonishing 0.90, or nearly a full grade above what might be expected! What a year group! 

The academic year of 2017/2018 can be declared a resounding success!

Next weeks West Bridgford Post will look at some of the individual success stories of pupils of all abilities.