We are celebrating another year of exceptional GCSE results in 2018, with 78.7% of students achieving grade 4 or above (a grade C on the old system) and 58.6% achieving grade 5 (a strong C to low B) or above compared with a national average of 40%. Our attainment 8 reached 52.7 this year, compared with an England average of 44.3.

For the key government progress measure we achieved a score of 0.42, compared with the national average of 0, this is likely to place the College in the top 20% of all schools nationally. This result was accomplished by still offering a very broad curriculum including three modern foreign languages, music, arts and physics, chemistry and biology as separate sciences. We have resisted the urge to offer students, easier options which would have improved this result further, knowing that a good range of GCSE options is better preparation for their next steps.

Over a quarter of all grades achieved by Catmose students were at grade 7 or above (A*/A) and the following students achieved six or more 8 or 9 grades.

John Denton, Leah Crawford, Eve Slattery, Thomas Nguyen, Oliver Davies, Althea Doverty, Lucy Adams, Stephen Wilson and Rebecca Turton.

Deputy Head Girl, Rebecca Turton, was thrilled with her results stating she “loved the teachers and the Catmose community, the teachers made you believe in yourself” and Stephen Wilson said “Thoroughly enjoyed my five years at Catmose, fantastic opportunities and I have made life-long friends”.

In summary for 2018:

• Students left Year 11 in 2018 with GCSE results, which are expected to be significantly above average. The percentage of students achieving 9-4 in English and Maths was 79%, which is in-line with last year’s (80%).  On the 9 – 5 measure the figure was 58.6% and on 9 – 7 it was 16.1%, both an improvement on last year.
• The College’s predicted Progress 8 score of +0.42 is a sound indication that students make outstanding progress.  This is particularly true in English (+0.54), Maths (+0.4), Languages (+0.17) and the EBacc (+0.56) where students are performing well when compared to the national picture. Overall, this is our most successful year under the progress 8 performance measure.
• Our most-able students continue to make outstanding progress, as the P8 score of +0.48 indicates, which is an improvement on last year’s +0.34 indicates.
• Pupil premium students achieved a progress 8 estimate of -0.1 which is broadly similar to students of the same academic ability nationally. In that respect there is little difference in the performance of a Catmose Pupil Premium child and all students nationally, however it is still our aim to continue to improve the progress these groups of students make and it will continue to feature in all that we do.
• A number of subjects achieved results that indicate students made outstanding progress from their starting points and compared to similar students nationally, these include: computer science (+1.1), English (0.5), English literature (+0.6), geography (+0.9), history (+1.7), mathematics (+0.4), French (+0.5), music (+0.8), philosophy and ethics (+1.2). The number indicates by how much of a fraction of a grade a Catmose student achieved compared with a similar ability student nationally.
• In Art and Design (-0.5) and Drama (-0.7) outcomes were lower than we anticipated. This will be addressed via the Team Transformation Plan strands. The change to a more academic curriculum has particularly impacted these subjects and so changes to the curriculum offer for these subjects will be considered alongside changes to teaching and intervention.
• Destination data for 2018 shows that 98% of our students are expecting to enter education, employment or training after they leave the College. The figure for financially disadvantaged students is also expected to be significantly above the national percentage.

Here is a breakdown of the results in each subject (click to enlarge):

All students worked incredibly hard over the last five years and these results are a reflection of their dedicated and determined approach. The College is extremely proud of their academic achievements, as well as their many successes in other fields – from consistently winning the Melton and Rutland Varsity sports competition, their strong performances in music and drama and their formidable debating team.

The Principal, Stuart Williams said “Once again we are delighted that the hard work of students, staff and their parents has produced an outstanding set of results. The College places a strong focus on academic results without sacrificing a broad and valuable range of extra-curricular activities.  It is this approach which makes Catmose so successful. The overwhelming majority of our students have secured a place at their first choice of post 16 provision and are in a strong position for the next stage of their lives”

To find more information about Catmose College through the Government’s School and College performance tables please click here to be taken to their website.