THE headteacher of Bordon's only secondary school has defended the school's performance in the new-look GCSE league table. The table shows that the 59 per cent of year 11 students at Mill Chase Community College were awarded five A*-C grades last summer dropped to 35 per cent who met the same benchmark when the results were re-analysed to include maths and English. The earlier measure did not have to include these two core subjects. But the restructured table also carries a new "value-added" index marking school's improvement, which shows the college exceeded its target by 11 per cent, putting it in the top 15 per cent of improved schools in the county. Headteacher Steve Mulcahy said league tables were an "important yardstick in measuring academic performance", but argued they did not show the personal circumstances of a school or its pupils which factor in their performance. The adjusted league table, released on January 11, now shows the percentage of students whose five or more A*-C grades include English and maths because these subjects are "the basis of a good education", according to the government. But education-union leaders say this year's tables, the first to be adjusted, are more complicated and misleading. Even successful headteachers have cast doubt on their usefulness to parents. Schools minister Jacqui Smith has stated that league tables are "a non-negotiable part of school reform" and should be considered alongside other sources, such as Ofsted reports, school profiles and school prospectuses. Taking the new table (including English and maths) at face value, the 35 per cent of Mill Chase students who met the five A*- C benchmark is almost 10 per cent behind the 44.9 per cent national figure. But on the old measure of five good GCSEs in any subjects, Mill Chase was only fractionally behind a national average of 59.2 per cent. The new-look table also places Mill Chase 17th from bottom in the ranking of Hampshire schools. But the general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, Mary Bousted, said: "The school league tables have become far more complicated in the government's attempt to make them less misleading. What parents really want is a school where their child will be safe, happy and well educated, but league tables encourage them to rely on dubious performance statistics." Mr Mulcahy said the really significant figures for Mill Chase lay in the second big change to the league table, known as a contextual value- added (CVA) score. This compares each pupil's GCSE results with those of all pupils nationally who were at a similar level of achievement when they left primary school, to judge which have progressed the most. The CVA measure is supposed to be a better reflection of the effect the school has on the development of students, and has been argued by some to be a fairer way to judge schools in deprived areas. The idea is to create a level playing field so that how each school's students actually performed - whether better or worse than the others - can be attributed to the school's influence. Before the exams last summer, Mill Chase was given an overall target of 48 per cent of students achieving five A*-C grades but 59 per cent actually did so - making it one of the most improved schools in Hampshire. Mr Mulcahy said: "Last year's year 11 intake contained lots of students who had literacy or numeracy problems, so it is a huge credit to the school to get in the top 15 per cent of value-added scores in the county. "Our score in the table may appear low but, because a lot of students had these weaknesses, maths and English became the most difficult exams to pass. "In leafy suburbs, schools take in students who, through a privileged upbringing and education, have developed high literacy and numeracy at high-achieving schools. "These students are expected to get good grades in maths and English so when they do, the school has done no more than it should. At Mill Chase, we have a full spectrum of abilities so the expectations of the intake as a whole are not as good. That means that, even if our scores are lower, we may have made better progress than schools around us. "That's why the reading of league tables alone is not an accurate picture. Bright kids all do well and that may hide the fact that those schools are not performing as well as they should. "I think that publishing schools' results is important as they are an important yardstick in measuring a school's academic performance. The inclusion of maths and English in the tables is important because mastery of literacy and numeracy underpins all that we do in the world of work. "It is important to know that whatever else a child has achieved, they are able to read, write and count. "However, I think that similar to other services, such as the NHS, the government has placed so much emphasis on league tables that schools are forced to 'hothouse' students on a yearly basis so they jump through the hoops set by the government in order to raise their position in league tables. "This means that other aspects of the curriculum, which aim to develop a sense of awe, wonder and creativity, are often shelved and this is regrettable. "I know this particularly affects primary-school colleagues and I know that from the experience of my own children's schooling, when year six was focused wholly on preparation for their SATs exams which did not engage their wider talents at all. "Schools should be encouraged to develop the wider talents of all their students and the singular focus the government has on league tables limits our ability to do so. "In terms of Mill Chase's progress, we have come a long way over the past few years. Our GCSE results have improved by 20 per cent, making us one of the most improved schools in the county. What is even more encouraging is that this trend is likely to continue, and we fully expect that year on year, our value- added scores will begin to challenge the best in the county."
