Worksop school is among top 10 highest performing in the country

Pupils and staff at Outwood Academy Portland are celebrating after the school was placed among the top tier of schools with a GCSE pass rate of 88 per cent in 2016.

Outwood Academy Valley also did the town proud, achieving a GCSE pass rate of 85 per cent and being placed along with Portland in the top 5 per cent of schools for progress.

The Department for Education has changed the measures for ranking schools this year, with the introduction of new progress 8 and attainment 8 scores.

Valley has achieved an attainment 8 score of 5.6 with a progress 8 of 0.43, while Portland has an attainment 8 socre of 5.8 and a progress 8 score of 0.98.

Dr Philip Smith, executive principal at Outwood Academy Portland and Outwood Academy Valley, said the results were “truly exceptional”.

He said: “It’s always an exciting time when the school league tables are published.

“We are delighted both Outwood Academy Portland and Outwood Academy Valley are in the top 5 per cent of schools in the country for progress.

“Portland is officially in the top 10 schools in the country – out of 6,235 schools.

“The students of Worksop really have exceeded every expectation and shown the rest of the country what world-class looks like.”​

Nottinghamshire’s “excellent” results place the county in line or even slightly ahead of the national average, while it has improved its ranking against similar counties.

Councillor John Peck, Nottinghamshire County Council‘s children and young people’s committee chairman, said: “I would like to congratulate young people across Nottinghamshire for these excellent results.

“I would also like to acknowledge the dedication and commitment from teachers and parents across the county.

“The Government has introduced new attainment and progress measures and it is encouraging to see a rise in those achieving these levels when compared with 2015.”

When compared with similar counties, Nottinghamshire is second out of 10 “statistical neighbours” for the percentage of students gaining five GCSEs at grade A*-C in English and maths, and comes in at third for the attainment 8 measure.