Christopher Whitmey, Chair of Governors of The Hereford Academy, asserts school results are complex (From Hereford Times)

Christopher Whitmey, Chair of Governors of The Hereford Academy, asserts school results are complex

12:00pm Friday 5th February 2010

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IN THE January 21 edition of the Hereford Times, “highlight anomalies” was an apt phrase in your headline to the schools’ GCSE results.

Mrs Thorne said that Lucton focused on subjects “which good universities require” – quite understandable.

Does she not understand that other schools may feel that vocational courses enable their students to achieve their personal best? It is cheap to say it is done “to boost their number of GCSEs per pupil”.

English and maths are important for vocational courses. The Hereford Academy was very disappointed to drop back below 30 per cent after exceeding it in 2008; in 2005 it was 14 per cent.

The governors are content that appropriate steps have been taken – despite the distractions of the complex challenges of planning for the new building.

Unfortunately, your table did not include the annual contextual value added (CVA) scores. Put “BBC News education” into Google and a table that includes them can be found.

CVA scores are complex calculations and designed to show the progress students have made. This is done by comparing their achievements with those of other students nationally who had the same or similar prior attainment.

Within the Herefordshire state schools’ CVA scores, Hereford Academy came second equal.

CVA is an attempt to resolve other anomalies/factors that influence educational outcomes and benchmark like against like, whether or not destined for university.

It is accepted that, as the BBC site says: “Care has to be taken when reading the CVA rankings, with no great significance being read into small differences.”

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