Southborough Celebrates Its Best Set of GCSE Results EVER!

GCSE Results Day 2024 proved to be a particularly upbeat day for not only our students but for the school itself, with Southborough celebrating its best set of GCSE results - and highest Progress 8 score – EVER!

For a number of years, Southborough has nurtured and developed a growing number of systems and processes that successfully target, inspire, motivate and above all support our boys in their journey to achieve exam success.

Students from Year 7 upwards quickly acclimatise to an exam culture that builds both confidence and competency, regardless of a students’ academic ability. By the time they reach Year 11, students are proficient in the formal protocols of regular exam sessions gained via three structured, timetabled exam weeks which take place each term.

However, the exam focus understandably takes a significant ‘step up’ in Year 11. A vigorous programme of bespoke interventions, booster classes (before school, after school, weekends and during the holidays) and subject specialist talks scheduled throughout the first half of the academic year strengthen student comprehension and understanding. The usual three exam week structure is replaced with two highly focused PPE (Pre-Public Exam) week-long periods – one in December and one in March – which mirror the summer Public Exams in every way possible. Targeted objectives are under-pinned with the use of the latest past papers and grade boundary levels available to make the experience of taking formal exams feel as ‘real’ as possible for our boys; students are taken off timetable - and they can take study leave when appropriate. Accurate diagnostic data in the form of clear exam performance analysis is fed back to students in a timely fashion and this provides the crucial guidance that students need to re-assess their strengths and weaknesses and, together with their teachers, put together a concise plan of action. The experience often proves to be a complete ‘game-changer’, giving students the opportunity to ‘turn things around’ if necessary and in turn, perform to the best of their abilities in the summer.

The Figures!

So what are the figures that Southborough – a proud boys comprehensive school whose mission is ‘to make the difference for all our students –are so delighted with? Firstly, we achieved our highest ever Progress 8 results since the metric was brought into use in 2016. The National Average is 0.03 for girls and boys –or 0.17 for boys. We achieved +0.30 – a whole .47 point difference, meaning that on average, our boys achieved one half a grade more in each subject than the National average. In terms of GCSE results, 70.1% of our students achieved a grade 4 and above in six GCSEs (including English and Maths). The National Average for boys is 67.1% and the National Average for both girls and boys is 67.4%. The GCSE National Attainment Average grade for girls and boys is 4.8, and 4.5 for boys. Southborough students achieved an average 4.89.

SEND, EAL and Disadvantaged

As already mentioned, though, our mission is to ‘make the difference for ALL our students’ and we are delighted that performance gap between our SEND and non-SEND students closed significantly -by 2/3rds -this year. Indeed, our EAL students were amongst some of the highest performing of our students and we also saw an impressive closing of the gap in exam performance between our disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students.

Showcasing Achievement: A Case Study

Fahim A was especially thrilled when he opened his results envelope this year. He achieved a grade 9 in all nine of his GCSEs. Indeed, it was partly the fact that he ‘only’ got a grade 8 in his Statistics GCSE last year (in Year 10) which motivated him to ‘go the extra mile’ and work even harder this year.  You can view a short video of Fahim being interviewed by Assistant Headteacher Mr Haque. In it you’ll hear that his secret was to engage in all the extra support that his teachers were offering and push himself to work that little bit harder every single day…. We are incredibly proud of Fahim – and all our other students who worked so hard   and wish them well with their A-level studies!