THE latest school performance rankings have been released for Herefordshire.

Figures released on Thursday by the Department for Education (DfE) show provisional results for how each school has performed over the last academic year.

Within the assessment topics, there are several key figures – Attainment 8, Progress 8 and the percentage of pupils achieving five or more A* to C or 9-4 or equivalents including 9-4 in both English and maths GCSEs.

Attainment 8 ranks pupils by how well they performed in up to eight topics, with a score out of 80.

Progress 8 scores the difference in a pupil’s grade between the end of Key Stage 2 (aged 11) and the end of Key Stage 4 (aged 16). This is compared to pupils across England who achieved similar results in up to eight subjects at the end of Key Stage 2 and is graded between -1 and one.

By doing this, schools can be ranked by how much pupils have progressed – not just based on their actual grades.

If a school scores +1 and above, it shows that pupils made exceptionally good progress. If the score is below -0.5, the school may come under increased scrutiny and receive additional support.

The following Herefordshire schools scored above average, with the progress 8 measure in brackets: The Steiner Academy (1.37), Fairfield High School (0.43), Weobley High School (0.43) and St Mary’s RC High School (0.39).

Average performing schools were John Kyrle High School (0.15), John Masefield High School (0.13), The Bishop of Hereford's Bluecoat School (0.11), Kingstone High School (0.1), Queen Elizabeth Humanities College (0.06), Lady Hawkins' School (0.05), Wigmore School (0) and Whitecross (-0.03).

Earl Mortimer College was below average (-0.3) while Aylestone Business and Enterprise College (-0.52), The Hereford Academy (-0.54) and Robert Owen Academy (-2.32) were considered to be 'well below average'.