Focus on: Skills and Qualifications April 2018 (Update April 2019) Summary Overall Blackburn with Darwen performs above the national average on the Progress 8 measure of attainment at Key Stage 4, although there are significant differences between progress in the borough’s schools. On overall attainment, the borough scores 50.3, just above the all England average score of 48.5. After secondary education, a greater proportion of the borough’s young people stay on in full time education or training and a smaller proportion in apprenticeships, compared to Lancashire Local Education Authority (LEA). On average, a lower proportion of students who study A Levels in Blackburn with Darwen schools and colleges achieve top grades compared to the England average. Working age residents of the borough have on average lower levels of higher level qualifications and a greater proportion have no qualifications; although the gap to the regional and national averages with no qualifications is narrowing. The UK wide Employer Skills Survey estimates that around 3% of businesses in Blackburn with Darwen stated that they had a skills shortage vacancy (which is due to a shortage of skills or experience that the employer is looking for). Qualifications – Key Stage 4 The measure of attainment at Key Stage 4 (KS4) has seen a number of changes over recent years and is now moving away from the use of GCSE attainment to Progress 8 and Attainment 8 as the key measures. Progress 81 Progress 8 scores are only published for mainstream schools e.g. those classed as maintained or academies. They aim to measure how much progress pupils at each school make between the end of Key Stage 2 (KS2) and the end of Key Stage 4 (KS4), compared to pupils across England who got similar results at the end of KS22. The average for mainstream schools in England is 0. Overall in 2016/17, Blackburn with Darwen is measured to be performing above national average, scoring 0.11. However, performance varies between schools with the top performing schools scoring well above, or above average being: School name Score – 2016/17 Tauheedul Islam Girls' High School (Academy) 1.81 (well above national average) Tauheedul Islam Boys' High School (Academy) 1.55 (well above national average) Witton Park Academy (Academy) 0.45 (above national average) Pleckgate High School (Academy) 0.38 (above national average) Schools in the borough performing below average on this measure are: School name Score – 2016/17 Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio (Academy) -1.48 (well below national average) Darwen Vale High School (Academy) -0.52 (well below national average) Darwen Aldridge Community Academy (Academy) -0.45 (below national average) Our Lady and St John Catholic College (Maintained school) -0.22 (below national average) 1 Source: DfE https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/schools-by-type?step=phase&region=889&geographic=la&phase=secondary 2 For definitions, further information and calculation of Progress 8 please see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/progress-8-school-performance-measure Attainment 8 In addition to Progress 8, the Attainment 8 scores are based on how well pupils have performed in up to 8 qualifications. Attainment 8 scores are available for independent schools in addition to mainstream schools. School performance tables highlight that in 2016/173 with a score for state funded schools of 46.4, the borough sits just above the average for state funded schools only (46.3) and above the all England schools average (44.6). Attainment 8 scores4 for the borough increased from 47.5 in 2014/15 to 50.3 in 2015/16 but saw a decrease in 2016/17 to 46.1 (a decrease of 4.2 points). This decrease is on a par with national (state funded sector) and regional trends that saw attainment 8 point decreases of 4.0 and 4.1 respectively. Average Attainment 8 scores per pupil for 2014/15 to 2016/17 (provisional) Schools with an Attainment 8 score above the borough average5 are: School name Score – 2016/17 Tauheedul Islam Girls' High School (Academy) 64.5 Jamiatul-Ilm Wal-Huda UK School (Independent) 64.4 Tauheedul Islam Boys' High School (Academy) 62.0 Westholme School (Independent) 58.8 St Wilfrid's Church of England Academy (Academy) 50.2 Islamiyah School (Independent) 49.2 Al Islah Girls’ High School (Independent) 48.9 Pleckgate High School (Academy) 48.3 St Bede's Roman Catholic High School, Blackburn (Maintained) 48.2 Markazul Uloom (Independent) 48.1 Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School (Academy) 47.9 3 5 Source DfE: https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/schools-by-type?step=phase&region=889&geographic=la&phase=secondary 4 Source DfE: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/gcse-and-equivalent-results-2016-to-2017-provisional LA tables: SFR57/2017 Local authority, region and the total (state-funded sector) figures cover achievements in state-funded schools only. They do not include pupils recently arrived from overseas and so will not match with state-funded figures in the main tables. The 'England' line above includes all pupils from state-funded schools, independent schools, independent special schools, non-maintained special schools, hospital schools, pupil referral units and alternative provision. Alternative provision includes academy and free school alternative provision. Young people - participation in education and training6 Following the completion of secondary school education, from 2015 it was made compulsory for 16 to 18 year olds to be participating in education or training. Formal education is not the only option for those who have left school. In order to monitor take up of post 16 education, local authorities have a responsibility to track young people's participation in education or training. They do this through the exchange of information with schools and colleges, other youth services and through direct contact with young people. Information about a young person's activity is recorded on a client database, an extract from which is used to prepare the following statistical information. There are a proportion of young people whose activity is not recorded, which as of June 2017, stands at 2.2% in Blackburn with Darwen (lower than the North West figure of 3.2%). In total 92.2% of 16 to 17 year olds were recorded as being in education and training within the borough, slightly above regional (90.6%) and national (91.4%) averages; the greatest proportion of which were in full time education and training. This compares to the Lancashire Local Education Authority (LEA) area where 78.9% are in full time education and training and 7.9% in apprenticeships, with overall 88.7% in education and training. Proportion of 16-17 year olds recorded in education and training, June 2017, type of activity 16 to 18 Attainment Focusing on those who stay in education post 16, a range of data are available to measure attainment in further education providers in the borough. This data is based on the location of the school or college, as opposed to the residence of the student. For A level results in 2016/177, 9.4% of those studying in Blackburn with Darwen achieve AAB or higher in at least two facilitating subjects8. This is lower than the England average for all schools/colleges (17.0%) and England state funded institutions 14.2%. 6 Source: DfE https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/participation-in-education-and-training-by-local-authority 7 Source: DfE https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-attainment-at-19-years 2016/17 revised Local Authority Tables SFR03/2018 8 Facilitating A levels are ones that are commonly needed for entry to leading universities. They are: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Geography, History, English Literature and Classical or Modern Languages. The schools and colleges in the borough with the highest percentage achieving AAB or higher in at least two facilitating subjects9: School or college name Number of % students Darwen Aldridge Community Academy 22.2% 18 Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School (Academy) 16.3% 86 St Mary’s College (College) 11.9% 202 Darwen Aldridge Community Academy and Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School were both recorded as performing ‘well above average’ on the progress score for ‘A’ levels. Whilst there is variation between institutions, 94.8% of students in Blackburn with Darwen Schools and Colleges were recorded as completing their main study programme compared to 95.3% in state funded schools nationally. GCE A level and equivalent results of state-funded students aged 16 to 18, percentage of students achieving grades AAB or better at GCE A level, Applied GCE A level and Double Award A level10 GCE A level and equivalent results of state-funded students aged 16 to 18, percentage of students achieving grades AAB or better at GCE A level, Applied GCE A level and Double Award A level 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 State-funded sector 16.8% 16.7% 16.1% 15.9% 18.5% 19.3% North West 17.2% 17.2% 16.3% 16.0% 19.0% 19.5% Blackburn with Darwen 9.4% 7.9% 10.1% 12.1% 10.4% 15.9% Vocational qualification results for the borough, as recorded in the applied general qualifications performance11, identified that one state funded institution was performing above average on the progress score: School name Score 2016/17 Darwen Aldridge Academy 0.57 (Above national average) However, overall the average point score for institutions within the borough offering these qualifications (31.99) was below the England average for all state funded schools (35.69) and all schools in England (35.73). For borough institutions as a whole 89.4% of students completed their main programme of study, compared to 88.5% of students in state funded schools and colleges in England.