Five of the six secondary schools within the Times’ area are above the national average for progress.
Churchill Academy and Sixth Form, along with Backwell, Gordano, St Katherine’s and Clevedon schools all performed well in the latest league tables released by the Department for Education.
Backwell School topped the rankings in North Somerset for the progress 8 measure, with a score of 0.3 while Nailsea School was at the bottom with a -0.45 result – despite 74 per cent of pupils achieving at least five grade 4s or more, including English and maths.
There has been a lot of change to the marking and scoring of education.
In previous years, a school’s achievements were judged on its pass rate and number of pupils achieving A*-C grades, including English and maths.
But the introduction of the progress 8 measure has sparked mixed opinions in education.
The measure concentrates on the development made by pupils from the end of primary school to the end of secondary school.
The DfE has also scrapped its alphabetical scoring measure and now brought in numbers across all subjects with nine being the best result and one being the worst.
Clevedon School headteacher Jim Smith said: “We are pleased, but by no means complacent with the year-on-year improvement the students and the school has made.
“This is testimony to the hard work of staff and students alongside the support of parents.
“However, there are 198 individual stories behind the generality of the score in the league tables and I am proud of the education each and every student had the opportunity to access.
Justin Humphreys, headteacher at St Katherine’s School, said: “We are delighted with the progress our young people continue to make at both GCSE and A-level, placing St Katherine’s in the top 100 most improved schools in the UK.
“These achievements are testament to the hard work and commitment of students and our talented and dedicated teachers.
“Pupil outcomes only tell one part of the story of education at St Katherine’s.
“We continue to focus on educating the whole child and help pupils develop the character and tools to fulfil their future dreams and aspirations.”
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