Sunderland headteacher's pride in pupils as school in top 20 most improved in the country

Pupils at Sandhill View Academy achieved a Progress 8 score of -0.08, meaning pupils of the same previously assessed ability are now achieving in line with their national peers.

The score also places the school significantly above the Progress 8 average for Sunderland Local Authority which is -0.31.

It marks a massive jump in student attainment with pupils at Sandhill now (2024) achieving on average almost three quarters of a grade more in their GCSEs compared to last year.

The increase in performance places Sandhill View Academy 17th out of 3,299 national state secondary schools who on Friday (December 6) received their Progress 8 scores.

Mrs Dodd said: “We are delighted with our results this year which places Sandhill View in the top 20 of most improved schools in the country.

“Our Progress 8 score for disadvantaged students has improved by almost a grade to -0.3. This means our disadvantaged students have performed better than their peers nationally across all benchmarks and gaps for all vulnerable groups of students have closed significantly.

“English and maths have also made significant improvements this year. Both subjects achieved positive Progress scores, performing above the national average.

“Students achieving a 5+ in both English and maths has almost doubled to 50% and students achieving a 4+ has also significantly increased to 63%.

“On a personal note, I am absolutely delighted with the results and so proud of our students.”

Mrs Dodd feels the upturn in academic performance is in a large part down to the dedication of the students and support from parents.

She added: “The success of the pupils has been a culmination of their resilience to turn up to school every day and make every effort to succeed, the hard work and determination from everyone working within the Academy and the support from parents and the wider community to ensure the very best for our students.”

To calculate Progress 8, each school is given a statistically calculated positive or negative value which is used to assess the progress made by pupils of the same assessed starting point when they sat their Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) in Year 6 and the results then achieved in their GCSEs in Year 11.

A score of one means that pupils with the same SATs results are achieving, on average, one grade more than their national peers in their GCSEs, while a score of minus one, means on average they are attaining one grade less.

It was introduced in 2016 as a fairer way to assess a school’s academic performance, rather than simply looking at raw grades and outcomes.

All Sunderland schools, national schools and local authorities received their Progress 8 at the start of December.