Results

Most secondary schools educate pupils from year 7 (age 11 to 12) to year 11 (age 15 to 16). Some schools and colleges, such as university technical colleges (UTCs), studio schools or further education colleges with key stage 4 provision, differ in their age range and specialisms and this should be borne in mind when reviewing the performance tables data for these types of provision.  For example, Progress 8 measures the progress made by pupils from the end of year 6 (end of primary school) through to the end of year 11, covering a period of five years.

In UTCs, studio schools and some other academies, pupils typically start in year 10, rather than in year 7 as is the case for most secondary schools. This means that, by the end of year 11, pupils in these schools will have typically attended that school for only 2 years, compared to 5 years for pupils in most secondary schools. As a result, the Progress 8 data for these schools is not directly comparable with the Progress 8 data for other schools. UTCs, studio schools and some FE colleges with KS4 provision provide a specialist technical and professional education.  The government’s position is that it is not appropriate to expect the same rates of EBacc entry from these types of provision and that each school should decide on a case by case basis whether its specialist curriculum is compatible with the full EBacc.