January 2009 RAISEonline

Ref: DJH/PB/MEE

29 January 2009

Dear Parent/Carer

Year 8 Examinations 2009

You may have seen an article in the local media reporting that Tollbar recently received a letter of commendation from the Schools Minister Jim Knight, MP, stating that:

"The results for your school show that you are amongst the top performing schools this year based on sustained improvement in the proportion of pupils achieving 5+ A*-C GCSEs (and equivalent) including English and Mathematics GCSEs, and also amongst the top performing schools based on the KS2-4 Contextual Value Added measure. This is an excellent achievement shared with only 12 other schools that have performed as well in both measures".

Some people have said that Tollbar's very high proportion (82% 5+ A*-C including English and Maths) is a consequence of either limiting our GCSE entry on ability or by selection of pupils on intake (Year 7) based on ability. The figure of 82% quoted in the Schools' Performance Tables recently published in the press reflects the results of the whole Year 11 cohort which Ofsted describe as broadly average in ability on intake. Therefore to achieve this outcome Tollbar has to be successful in raising the attainment of students across all levels of ability. This is clearly reflected in the recent Ofsted RAISEonline document whose circulation is restricted to the College, which we wish to share with you.

Table 2.1.13:
Contextual Value Added Key Stage 2 to 4: Pupils Achieving 5 or more
A* to C (including English and Mathematics) at GCSE and equivalent
This analysis provides the number of pupils who achieved 5 A*-C including English and Mathematics in 2008, grouped by their estimated probability of achieving the threshold. The probability for each pupil is worked out by taking into account their contextual characteristics and their prior attainment at Key Stage 2. Significance tests have been performed on the data using a 95% confidence interval.

Probability of achieving 5 A*-C

 Number of pupils Number of pupils achieving 5 A*-C Success rate Tollbar Predicted success rate
Higher 135 135 100% 88%
Middle 128 121 95% 45%
Lower 101 42 42% 11%
Whole School 364 298 82% 52%

This table demonstrates that Tollbar achieved:

  1. In the higher student ability range 100% success with the pupils (135 pupils) where the national predicted success rate for all schools is 88%.
  2. In the middle student ability range 95% success rate (121 pupils) against the national predicted success rate of 45%.
  3. In the lower student ability range a success rate of 42% (42 pupils) against a national predicted success rate of 11%.

Overall this means that Tollbar's success rate was 82% compared with the national prediction of 52%.

We are delighted and proud of the achievements of all of our students and thank you for your continued support.

Yours sincerely,

Mr D J Hampson, OBE
Principal & Chief Executive
Mr P Bond
Chair of Governors

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