Somerset schools below par
Data released by the Department for Education suggests that performance in Somerset schools is now below the average for England.
Using the new “Attainment 8” measure and taking the pupil average across each constituency, only Wells did better than the English average.
Attainment 8 scores are calculated by adding up the points achieved by each pupil in eight English Baccalaureate subjects taken at GCSE, and dividing the total by 10. The maximum score is 90. While students don’t have to take eight subjects, they will score zero for any unfilled slots. A school’s attainment 8 score is the average of all of its students’ scores. The constituency average in the same way takes an average of all the school scores in any one constituency.
For the sake of comparison the lowest average attainment 8 score per pupil in England’s state funded schools was 35.2 this year, in Knowsley, Merseyside, the highest was 58.0 in Sutton in London’s suburbia.
There will be a full report in the next Leveller, but meanwhile here are the Attainment 8 scores by Somerset constituency:
