Oxfordshire schools' best and worst GCSE results 2018

Provisional government data for the 2018 results has been released - but parents have been warned that some figures can be misleading.

See below for best and worst ranked

Pupils received their grades in August, having sat the papers in May and June, but this is the first time the county's collective achievement can be understood.

The Department for Education's has two headline measures for the exams, which are usually taken at the age of 16.

Attainment 8 records pupils' average achievement across eight subjects, including English and maths.

Progress 8 shows pupils' improvement (or decline) since starting secondary school.

Oxfordshire's average Attainment 8 score was 46.7, above the national average of 44.3, but down from the county's score last year, 47.6.

The county's average Progress 8 was 0.00, which is the same as last year and above the national score of -0.02.

AT A GLANCE:

Number of pupils getting Grade 5 or above in English and Maths GCSE (minimum 50 pupils taking exams)

TOP 5 SCHOOLS

• The Cherwell School (268 pupils) – 74 per cent
• Matthew Arnold School (181 pupils) – 66 per cent
• Didcot Girls’ School (190 pupils) – 65 per cent
• Bartholomew School (185 pupils) – 63 per cent
• Gillotts School (146 pupils) - 57 per cent

BOTTOM 5 SCHOOLS

• Carterton Community College (99 pupils) – 17 per cent
• The Oxford Academy (131 pupils) – 21 per cent
• St Gregory the Great (185 pupils) – 26 per cent
• Wykham Park Academy (89 pupils) – 29 per cent
• The Bicester School (108 pupils) - 31 per cent

For Progress 8, top schools were:

• - The Cherwell School in Oxford with 0.92
• - Didcot Girls' School with 0.69
• - Matthew Arnold School in Botley with 0.51.

The same schools scored highest for Attainment 8.

For Progress 8, bottom-ranking schools were:

• - Wykham Park Academy in Banbury with -0.93
• - Carterton Community College with -0.64
• - St Gregory the Great Catholic School in East Oxford with -0.52

The same schools also had some of the lowest scores for Attainment 8.

Scores can be skewed by the number of pupils sitting exams - to view the full set of data or see how your child's school performed, see here.

The Bicester School was delighted with its Progress 8 score of 0.09 this year, having already improved from an Ofsted rating of 'inadequate' in 2012 to 'good' in 2014 and 'good' again this year.

Headteacher Tony Rushworth said: "The Bicester School has done well with a Year 11 group who had been through special measures and considerable turmoil in their early years.

"We have managed to get the second-highest Progress 8 score in North Oxfordshire, one of only two schools [in the area] to achieve a positive Progress 8 score this year.

"One third of our most academic Year 7 students left us in 2013 to join the newly-opened free school in Heyford, because parents were concerned about us being in special measures at the time.

"However, the ones who stayed on did really well.

"I'd like to thank parents for having faith in us in very tricky times back then."

Cheney School in Headington was among four mainstream schools in Oxfordshire deemed 'well below average' for Progress 8, but assistant headteacher Steve Palmer has clarified that this is not an accurate reflection of results.

In a letter sent to parents, he explained that many Year 11 students took their GCSEs early in Year 10.

He wrote: "These qualifications, because they were the old A*-G GCSEs, are not measured in the latest official government figures for our school.

"The official figures do not reflect the real picture of the attainment and progress of our students.

"From next year our official results will reflect exactly how Cheney School students performed."

The school has crunched data to include the Year 10 exams, which resulted in Progress 8 and Attainment 8 scores of -0.01 and 45.07 - both above the national average.

This year the Government rolled out a new grading system to replace A*-G grades with 9-1, where 9 is the best and 4 is more or less equivalent to the old grade C.