Eight secondary schools in Harrow are performing well above the national average, according to the latest figures from the Department for Education (DfE).
Progress 8 scores, which are used to assess the academic performance of schools and pupils at GCSE level, were released earlier this month (October 19).
The score have measured and tracked the progress of students’ at 27 schools in the borough, from when they leave primary school to when they achieve their GCSE results. The government does not publish Progress 8 data for independent schools and independent special schools.
Introduced in 2016, it replaced the way in which secondary schools were previously ranked because it was deemed unfair – where it was measured according to the percentage of children who achieved five A* to C grades. Progress 8 scores are said to provide a more “rounded picture” of the range of subjects being studied and be more reliable.
Progress 8 scores show how a child has progressed from the end of Year 6 to Year 11, when compared to students across England who got similar results at the end of Year 6. A score between 0 to 0.5 means the school performed above the national average, while scores above 0.5 means a school performed ‘well above’ the national average.
A school with a score below 0 means students made less progress when compared to the national average. Negative scores don’t mean pupils haven’t made progress, it simply means they have progressed less than the national average.
In Harrow, the highest-performing secondary school based on Progress 8 scores for the academic year 2022/23 was Whitmore High School – with a score of 1.06. Bentley Wood High School was the second highest-performing secondary school with a Progress 8 score of 1.03.
Of the 27 schools reported on, 12 were found to be performing at or above average compared to the rest of the country. The eight best-performing schools in Harrow based on their Progress 8 scores are:
- Whitmore High School: 1.06
- Bentley Wood High School: 1.03
- The Sacred Heart Language College: 1.03
- Avanti House School: 0.93
- Salvatorian Roman Catholic College: 0.61
- Nower Hill High School: 0.54
- Harrow High School: 0.52
- Pinner High School: 0.51
A full breakdown of Harrow’s Progress 8 scores are available to view here.
