Agenda item
Hackney GCSE and A Level Results 2022 (20.20)
A short verbal update will be provided by the Director of Education on GCSE and A Level results taken in June 2022.
(20 minutes)
Minutes:
5.1 The Commission requested a short verbal update on the GCSE and A Level results of Hackney students from 2022. As this is the first year that students have sat public examinations since 2019 this was an opportunity for the Commission to reflect on how well students have performed and to ensure that there has been appropriate support mechanisms in place for students.
Hackney Education
5.2 Public examinations resumed in 2022, as these were replaced by teacher assessments in both 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. Hackney schools and students have performed comparatively better than national averages for both GCSE and A Level results. Full data would not be available until February of next year, and today’s summary represented an on the day snapshot of performance.
5.3 Key areas to highlight from local performance included:
At GCSE level:
75% of students achieved a standard pass in mathematics and English which is substantially higher than results in 2019 (69%);
57% of students achieved a strong pass in mathematics and English which is substantially higher than results in 2019 (48%);
At A Level:
32% of students gained an A* and an A;
59% of students gained an A* and a B;
81% of students gained an A* and a C.
The range of courses at post 16 has also diversified with some schools offering up to 27 different pathways.
5.4 All secondary schools are involved in WAMHS, therefore every school has a wholesale school framework to support emotional wellbeing and support for students. Some schools also provide access to counsellors and mentors as additional to pastoral support. A number of case studies were used to illustrate how additional support was provided to vulnerable students to achieve. Schools have become trauma aware, trauma informed and practitioners in supporting children.
Questions from the Commission
5.5 The Commission is aware of the profound impact that Covid and school closures has had on a number of pupils and in this context, percentages reveal one aspect of performance. Is there any additional data on the numbers of children which have taken exams or the number of children who have dropped out of exams?
5.6 As there is no resource for children to need to be assisted for exam retakes?
- More secondary settings are now offering resit exams at post 16. This was less of an issue for post 18, as many students who were not going to achieve the required standard would be guided to different examination paths at the end of year 12. It was noted that the failure rate for children taking the same exam was very high which meant that this was not a viable option for schools to support. It was important to intervene before the end of year 12 so that additional measures could be put in place.
5.7 What are the future plans for ‘grade downs’ as schools will be graded to 2019 levels?
- The aim of the assessment bodies is to gradually return to 2019 standards which will mean a further adjustment in 2023.
5.8 Would it be possible to have a breakdown of BTech results for the later paper in February 2023?
- Data was collected differently for BTech, but additional data can be provided with the full paper on attainment is provided in February 2023.
5.9 The Chair thanked officers for this summary and overview and requested that when the more detailed item ion attainment is discussed in February 2023 it can also look at:
-Attainment gap between disadvantaged students;
-Attainment of children in Alternative Provision (including the PRU);
-BTech data.
Supporting documents:
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