Sponsored by
Mandeville School in Aylesbury is worst performing in Buckinghamshire
AN Aylesbury school has come out bottom in Bucks in the latest GCSE result league tables.
According to government league tables, The Mandeville School had just 33 per cent of its pupils attain grade A*-C in five GCSEs in their most recent exam results, which not only puts the school last in the Vale for secondary schools, but also in the county.
Headteacher at the school, Peter Patchett, says the school is ‘on the way up’ and that he remains proud of all his students’ achievements.
“Every school will have blips from time to time, but within the 33 per cent achieved by the school, there were a lot of very good results,” he said.
“There will be a different story with every school, and different schools cannot be compared.
“The school has improved dramatically, and the achievement of pupils should not always be based on grades – there are many other achievements, such as sports successes.”
Meanwhile, other schools in the Vale have seen dramatic improvements in their results, with Aylesbury Vale Academy having 40 per cent of pupils achieving grades A*-C in their GCSEs, compared with 26 per cent in 2010
Other secondary modern (non-selective) schools in the district to have done well in the results include Waddesdon CofE School, which achieved 69 per cent, The Misbourne School in Great Missenden, which achieved 62 per cent, and The Grange School in Aylesbury and John Colet School in Wendover, which both achieved 58 per cent.
The best performing grammar school overall was Aylesbury High School, which was the only school in the Vale to achieve 100 per cent.
The High was however closely followed by Aylesbury Grammar School and Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School, which both achieved a 99 per cent pass rate.
Headteacher at Aylesbury High, Alan Rosen, said: “The results show clearly that these girls have thrived in the Aylesbury High School environment.
“They achieved such great results as well as doing so much out of the classroom and having fun at the same time.
“The numbers can never give the complete picture of a school, which is best judged by visiting it during a normal working day or on an open morning, but do show how different schools compare on a number of measures.”
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Aylesbury
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
Comments
There are 10 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
KBH
Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 09:34 AMAs someone who has experience in Mandeville, other Upper Schools in the area (Aylesbury Vale) and local grammar schools I can say that improvements are needed at that school and, as the Head said, it can be done. If we take Grange school this very week in Bucks Herald, you can see what exceptional results they have achieved, in top 100 schools in UK for sustained improvement. Good luck Mandeville, it can be done. Finally, I know facts are sometimes inconvenient, but the fact is that Bucks CC are funding multi million pond developments at Mandeville and soon Grange as reported in Bucks Herald. There have been no multi million pound developments funded by Bucks CC at the Grammars in my experience. It may not be convenient, but facts are facts.
MR68
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 10:07 AMMy step son went to The Mandeville. It's a poor school. I will do whatever it takes to avoid sending my other son there. Saying that, the comment that BCC pumps it's cash into grammar education is true.
JR
Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 11:27 AMAccording to a survey, BCC is the worst local authority in the UK.
JR
Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 11:16 AMOne of my lads who attended [a local grammar] is now at college. His tutors saw a problem in him & referred him to a specialist - turns out he's not "thick" or "bone idle" but he's actually dyslexic and dyspraxic. Something which, apparently, teachers should know to look out for, and something which he should have had help for. Since being diagnosed, he has been given help and his exam results and coursework have shown a marked improvement. Of course, teachers at Mandeville had long since picked up on similar problems with my other lad and tutored him accordingly. Just goes to show, you can chuck all the money you like at the best schools in the land but you cannot put a price on GOOD teaching. It's a real shame that articles like this are printed as it can lower the morale of the good teachers at the school. I might not be in a position to offer financial rewards for all the good work they did at Mandeville but I can certainly sing their praises on here.
Roo8
Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 01:00 AMTwo of my children attend Mandeville and are doing exceptionally well. My daughter has just had her mock results all c grade and above, and is due to sit her exams this year .My daughter is doing a sports diploma at the school and as far as I know all the children doing the diploma are hitting great grades and enjoy it. I think it will be interesting to see how well the kids at AVA do this year with all the unrest that has been there over the last year, considering the confusion over Mr Johnson going.
JR
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 11:03 AMPerhaps the school might perform better if the Tory authority weren't chucking every last penny at the Grammar schools, funding a system of education that seems to have changed little in generations - apart from the exams being dumbed down. We are all different, we all learn in different ways and at different rates. Some learn by reading, others learn by doing. For some, it is a combination of the two. If qualifications are the be-all and end-all, why are we seeing so many people leaving university and struggling to find employment? Is it because employers want people who can do a job rather than simply talk a good job? With my two children, the one who has fared best attended Mandeville. The other attended a respected local grammar - and yet he seemed to have been given far fewer opportunities ! Mandeville supported and nurtured, teachers went above and beyond. Conversely, teachers at [a grammar school] simply expected pupils to get on with it - a case of sink or swim.
pmiles
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 10:54 PMTake a look at this article Mr Duck regarding the developments of schools who have Academy Status. http:www.bbc.co.uknewseducation-16858868 Still this progress does suit the ideological views of the present Government, and their desire to ensure that most schools become Academies in the near future, the same government that decide how schools shall be measured. It will be interesting to see how the scores stack up when the weighting for a number of these vocational courses changes.
Aylesbury Duck
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 11:43 AMMandeville are only bottom because Quarrendon school has become an academy, they both have pupils from similar socio-economic backgrounds. Since becoming an accademy, Quarrendon has gone from 26 per cent in 2010 to 40 per cent in 2011, with the staff retained, proves it can be done, so no excuses.
jreading
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 07:51 AMI write this as a parent, having had three children at Mandeville School I would like to back it whole heartedly and pmiles comments too. Why do journalists jump in without fully doing research first, why do they not report on the real success of the school? My eldest child is now at university in London studying Music, my middle one is in year 13 and will be going to university in September, the youngest is year 9 and is in the process of chosing GCSE options, the support that they have had is outstanding, but I know that this is not just given to the high achievers, lower ability pupils are actually given equal support to reach their full potential with a lot gaining higher than expected GCSE results and this is the real success of the school. Please do your research first.
pmiles
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 09:13 PMThis kind of lazy journalism makes me so angry. Take one list based on one set of data and make assumptions that one school has not "done well". Perhaps if your journalists took a look at the data regarding the cohort of students that gained these results and their socio-economic background in comparison with schools such as Waddesdon, and then further compared this with the grades that students are 'most likely' to achieve based on their performance at Key Stage 2, your journalists would find a slightly more balanced picture. But then that would take a bit more effort and insight than looking at one table wouldnt it? Could do much better on the report card I think.
Page 1 of 1
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.