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At Lydiard Park Academy we have always felt the value in pupils taking a broad range of subjects which will give them lots of post 16 opportunities. In key stage 4, all students study English Language, English Literature, Mathematics, combined or triple Sciences to GCSE level. In addition, pupils choose three options from a wide range of both vocational and GCSE courses. Every child has to include one of the Humanities (History or Geography) and either a Modern Foreign Language (French, German or Spanish) or ICT qualification so they meet the requirements of the English Baccalaureate. The old system of A* to G has been replaced with a numerical system descending from nine to one (with nine being the highest ‘number’). All specifications now place less emphasis on coursework and more on final exams.
English baccalaureate – the government wants more emphasis put on traditional, academic subjects and so it is expecting nearly all students to follow a set of courses that include studies in five main areas:
Attainment 8 – this measure has become increasingly important as it provides a single number to demonstrate the attainment of a child across a range of subject areas and will almost certainly be used by colleges, universities and employers when assessing the ability of applicants. The Attainment 8 score is calculated by averaging the number grade for English and Mathematics (given the importance of these subjects they will be double-counted) plus the number grade from three English Baccalaureate subjects and the number grades of three other qualifying subjects.
Progress 8 – this measure is used to judge the performance of schools. Each child will have an expected Attainment 8 score based on primary school KS2 levels and this will be compared with actual performance at the end of the five years of secondary education. Hence, a child expected to score an Attainment 8 score of 6.6 who in fact scores 6.9 will have a Progress 8 score of +0.3. All the Progress 8 scores in a school will be averaged to produce an overall score.