GCSE results were of an extremely high standard again in 2016 and pupils and their teachers are rightly very proud of what they achieved.

Hydesville Tower Senior School was ranked as the third highest achieving Secondary school in the borough in the 2017 GCSE league tables published by the Department for Education.  The league tables show that the school’s Attainment 8 score – which gauges achievement across eight qualifications including English and Mathematics –  far exceeds the national average.

Exam results are one important measure of a school’s performance and we are proud to report consistently top notch grades.

In the 2017 Department for Education Senior School League tables we were ranked as the third highest performing Secondary Schools in the borough for our Attainment 8 score, which gauges achievement across eight qualifications including English and Mathematics.

Bear in mind we are a proudly inclusive school, welcoming children with:

• academic talents – for example Alex, sitting A Level mathematics two years ahead of time
• sporting prowess – such as county cricketer Sahdev
• a gift for performing arts – including Priya, currently filming her part in Channel 4 soap “Hollyoaks”

This diversity of abilities and range of interests is our strength and creates the right environment for all children to be themselves, pursue their goals and flourish as individuals.

Although extremely proud of our position in the GCSE performance tables, there is another measure which is of greater importance to us; the amount of progress each child makes.   ‘Value added’ is a measure of the progress pupils make between different stages of their education; if pupils perform beyond expectations this is reflected in a high ‘value added’ score. The Senior School is within the top three per cent nationally when it comes to adding value to a child’s level of attainment.

In our Prep School many Year 5 children sit the 11 Plus exam and are offered a place at a selective secondary school of their choice. Their success is due to a combination of natural ability and the teaching and experiences they have received from our Nursery onwards. The specific 11 Plus preparatory work our experienced teachers deliver from Year 3 gives our pupils a certain advantage. We fully support the grammar schools’ stance that children do not benefit from additional tutoring outside of the school day.

Prep School Exam Results

We are proud of our academic achievements and high quality teaching. Preparation for 11+ has always been a tradition at Hydesville and a significant number of pupils continue to secure places at our local grammar schools.  We understand that such places are not suitable for all pupils and our regular tracking and monitoring enables us to support all pupils to the journey to success. Last year 55% of pupils secured a place at a grammar school and 75% in the previous year. As we are a non-selective school, these results will vary from cohort to cohort each year.

We use a range of formative and summative assessments which are ongoing throughout the year (see our Assessment, Recording and Reporting Policy).   Teachers use these results together with a range of evidence such as GL assessment, unit tests and National Curriculum tests to make a final judgement on attainment at the end of Year 6.

Our GL assessment enables us to check the accuracy of attainment within a national context.

2016 KS2 Results

The school have now moved to the new assessment but last year our results were based on the National Curriculum levels.

Each level is divided into three sub-levels, for example 4a, 4b and 4c.   The sub level ‘a’ means a child has reached the top of that level and is working towards the next, ‘b’ indicates that a child is working well within that level and ‘c’ suggests a child has started to work at that level.