Value Added GCSE

Yr7 (Age 11) Cognitive Ability Tests (CATs) run by nferNelson, measure pupils ability when they join the school. As part of this assessment comes a set of GCSE predictors, a measure of how well these pupils will perform in Y11 when they take their GCSEs.

Y11 (Age 16) when the girls have completed their GCSEs their actual results in the main subjects (Maths, English, Science, Modern Foreign Language, History, Geography) are compared with the predictors produced from their Y7 CATs tests.

Comment

As you can see the girls have out performed their predicted grades on the basis of their demonstrated ability at age 11 and age 16.

Note:

1. These are both nationally recognised tests, reflecting candidates of similar ability throughout the country.
2. The A Level value added is a "rollover" value added, since the GCSE performance is better than predicted going into their A Level studies. (Compare this to a school where able pupils at age 11 do badly in their GCSEs and therefore have a lower score than their ability merits entering the sixth form.) Our girls consistently do well at GCSE compared to their ability at age 11 and then again in the sixth form.
3. We have taken the "best-case scenario" in all of these predictions. If the CATs prediction comes out as a B/C we have counted it as a B. This means, in this case, to get value added a candidate would need to get A or A*.
4. We are a relatively small school, particularly at A Level (40 candidates), one girls' results can therefore account for 2% of the total results.