“Exceptionally proud” of the progress at Oak School

MELKSHAM Oak School’s interim principal, Aidan Blowers, says he is exceptionally proud of the hard work of students, staff and the community following the publication of the Secondary School League Tables this month. 

In a year that again saw tougher GCSEs in English and maths, Oak students achieved an average  Progress 8 score of -0.12.

A score below zero means pupils made less progress, on average, than pupils across England who got similar results at the end of key stage 2, but does not mean that the pupils made no progress at all. 

This score shows how much progress pupils at this school made between the end of key stage 2 and the end of key stage 4, compared to pupils across England who got similar results at the end of key stage 2.

Interim principal, Aidan Blowers said, “We are exceptionally proud of the hard work by our students, staff and community. These have led to sustained results in line with National Average for the last 5 years.”

The GCSE results for maths and English were below the national average, with 30% achieving a good pass at grade 5 or above in those subjects compared to the national average of 43.3% and a Wiltshire average of 46.9%.

Alongside the Progress 8 score, secondary schools are also judged on their Attainment 8 score. Attainment 8 measures the attainment of pupils in eight GCSEs including English and maths. Melksham Oak’s Attainment 8 figure was 41  compared to the national figure of 46.5 and Wiltshire’s figure of 48.3.

The progress of A-level students at the school was ranked as below average compared to similar students across England. 

At Oak, 8.6% of students gained AAB or higher grades in at least two ‘facilitating subjects’ compared to an average of 16.2% of students in England and 15.7% of students in Wiltshire. These subjects include maths, English, sciences and languages, which help students compete for top university places. This has increased from last year’s results where the school was at 3.8%. 

Aidan Blowers said, “It is critical to understand that these school statistics, while useful, do not paint a complete picture and focus in on one aspect of school performance. 

“They do not fully take into account the local demographic and challenges that each school faces.  However, these results indicate last year’s Melksham Oak students performed at or above the results of the 18 other schools local who were average in Wiltshire.

 “We are committed to building on the strengths and responding to the areas for improvement, to give our young people the very best chance of success. Our ambition is to become a “great school” and we are determined to succeed in our drive towards that goal.”