HOW TO READ THE TABLES

School particulars

The tables provide the following details for each school included: name, address and telephone number; type of school; specialist indicator (if applicable); admissions policy; the age range. Abbreviations and symbols that appear in this section are explained in the `Abbreviations and their Meanings' section.

Cohort information for pupils aged 15 at the start of the school year

These columns replicate key information from the main 2003 secondary GCSE/GNVQ performance tables. They show for each school in the pilot:

• the total number of pupils aged 15 on roll at the school in January 2003 (i.e. in their final year of compulsory schooling). This includes pupils who did not attempt or pass any GCSE/GNVQs; and
• the next two columns show (i) the number and percentage of pupils aged 15 with statements of special educational needs (SEN) and (ii) the number and percentage of 15 year old pupils with SEN without statements.

KS2 to GCSE/GNVQ value added measure

This set of columns show the KS2 to GCSE/GNVQ value added information. The value added measure is based on comparing GCSE/GNVQ performance with the median - or middle - GCSE/GNVQ performance of other pupils with the same or similar prior attainment at KS2. The individual pupils' scores are aggregated to give a score for the school, which is represented as a number centred around 100. Scores above 100 represent schools where pupils have (on average) achieved better results at GCSE/GNVQ than pupils with similar KS2 results nationally. A score of 101 means that on average, each of a school's pupils achieved an extra GCSE/GNVQ point than the median for pupils with similar KS2 attainment. Conversely a score of 99 means that pupils achieved one fewer GCSE/GNVQ point.

The next three columns show:

• a coverage indicator showing the percentage of 15 year old pupils that are included in the value added calculation; and
• the average number of GCSE/GNVQs taken by pupils included in the VA calculation.

Historical KS2 to KS3 value added measure for cohort

The first column shows the historical KS2 to KS3 value added measure for the pupils included in the KS2 to GCSE/GNVQ value added calculation (i.e. the progress made from KS2 taken in 1998 to the KS3 taken in 2001) The second column shows the percentage of 15 year old pupils included in this historical KS2-KS3 value added calculation. These columns are for information only and are intended for use in the evaluation discussions and feedback with pilot schools.

KS3 to GCSE/GNVQ value added measure

These columns replicate the KS3 to GCSE/GNVQ value added measure, coverage and stability measure that were published in the main secondary GCSE/GNVQ tables. Further information about how these indicators have been calculated can be found in the technical annex.

Interpretation of the VA measures

The value added scores are shown as measures centred around 100. Scores above 100 represent schools where pupils on average made more progress than similar pupils nationally, while scores below 100 represent schools where pupils made less progress.

For the KS2 to GCSE/GNVQ and KS3 to GCSE/GNVQ value added measures, a score of 101 means that on average each of the school's pupils achieved one extra GCSE/GNVQ point than the median for pupils with similar KS2 or KS3 attainment respectively. Conversely, a score of 99 means that the school's pupils achieved one fewer GCSE/GNVQ point.

For the historical KS2 to KS3 value added measure, a score of 101 means that on average each of the school's pupils made a sixth of a National Curriculum level more progress between KS2 and KS3 than the median for pupils with similar KS2 attainment. This represents approximately one term's extra progress. Conversely a score of 99 means that the school's pupils made a term's less progress.

The degree of significance that can be attached to any particular school's value added measure depends, among other factors, on the number of pupils included in the value added calculation. The smaller the number of pupils, the less confidence can be placed on the value added measure as an indicator of whether the effectiveness of a school is significantly above or below average. As a guide: at KS2 to GCSE/GNVQ, for schools with approximately 50 pupils in the value added measure, scores of 95.5 to 101.3 are broadly average, while for schools with 100+ pupils, scores of 96.4 to 100.4 are broadly average.

When comparing the measures for two schools a similar effect holds. At KS2 to GCSE/GNVQ, when comparing schools with cohorts of about 50 pupils, differences of up to 4.1 should not be regarded as statistically significant. For schools with about 100 pupils, differences of up to 2.9 should not be regarded as significant.

Particular care should be taken with the results for schools where cohort sizes are small. For example, for schools with 15 pupils included in the value added measure from KS2 to GCSE/GNVQ, differences of up to 7.4 should not be regarded as significant. Only scores of below 93.1 or above 103.7 are likely to be significantly different from the average.

In the 2003 tables, the top 5% of schools nationally on the KS2-GCSE/GNVQ value added measure achieved scores of 107.4 or above. The bottom 5% of schools on this measure achieved scores of 91.4 and below. The table below shows the KS2-GCSE/GNVQ value added profiles for all schools nationally.

The two tables below show similar profiles for the historical KS2 to KS3 and KS3 to GCSE/GNVQ value added measures respectively.

The coverage indicators also give some indication of schools where the value added measures may be unrepresentative: a low coverage indicator means that information was not available to calculate the value added scores of many of the school's pupils, and so these pupils could not be included in the school value added calculation.

GCSE and GNVQ results for pupils aged 15

These again columns replicate key information from the main 2003 secondary GCSE/GNVQ performance tables. They show for each school in the pilot:

• the percentage of pupils aged 15 who gained five or more grades A*-C - the standard normally needed to prepare them for advanced study;
• the percentage of pupils aged 15 who gained five or more passes at grades A*-G;
• the percentage of pupils who reached school leaving age with no GCSE or GNVQ passes; and
• an average point score based on each pupil's best eight results.

Indicator showing length of time spent at current school

These columns show the percentage of 15 year old pupils on roll who have been in the school for at least the last two years (i.e. the whole of KS4), leading up to the end of compulsory schooling and those who have been in the school for the whole (five years) of their secondary education. More information about how these have been calculated can be found in the technical annex.

Additional information

GCSE/GNVQ results were supplied by awarding bodies in September 2003. These results were then checked by the schools involved in the pilot in October. Some reviews of GCSE/GNVQ results that were requested by schools were not completed in time to be included in the tables. It is therefore possible that, for some schools, the information published would have been different had the results of any reviews been available earlier.

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