SENIOR teachers at Derbyshire’s biggest school have vowed to make improvements after a new report highlighted a major fall in how well pupils have been doing in exams.
John Port School, in Main Street, Etwall, revealed that it had identified a ‘number of issues and is actively addressing these’ after a poor showing on the Ofsted School Data Dashboard – providing a snapshot of a school’s performance for parents and governors.
Major drops in pupils gaining five GCSEs grade A* to C including maths and English saw the 2,200-pupil school placed among the worst schools in the country.
The survey also showed that the school had seen a 21 per cent decrease in pupils gaining an A* to C grade in science since 2010 putting them in the bottom 20 per cent of all schools in the country.
Acting head teacher Chris Sainsbury said: “The dashboard illustrates a school’s performance over the last three years.
“Our objective is to ensure that all students receive a quality education to enable them to achieve their potential.
“I would like to assure parents that everyone at John Port School is firmly committed to raising standards and expectations across the school.”
The school saw a 13 per cent drop in maths at GCSE level but despite a 12 per cent drop in English was still in line with the national average.
The education watchdogs also took a close look at whether pupils were making progress, and results showed that 56 per cent of pupils achieved expected progress in maths in 2012 – a 14 per cent drop since the year before.
This means that the school was in the bottom 20 per cent of similar schools’ results and in the bottom 40 per cent of all schools across the country.
It also was revealed that there was a 11 per cent drop in pupil progress in English.
The school was however praised for its pupil attendance rate – in the top 20 per cent in the country.
A closer look at what the school was doing to narrow the gap for disadvantaged pupils revealed that the school had not yet reached nationally set standards.
To keep up to date on the school improvements, visit www.johnport.org.uk
