Our test and teacher assessment results across the school
We are first and foremost a school that looks after children's wellbeing, and are not 'results driven'. However, we firmly believe that by caring for pupils as individuals, we can help them to achieve their potential. Our very good results seem to back that up.
Here are some highlights of the academic standards our pupils have achieved since 2016, when our 'new' leadership and teaching team started at the school.
2024 - Every single Year 6 child achieved at least the expected standard in both their reading and their maths SATs papers. Almost all children achieved at least the expected standard in writing too, giving the Y6 cohort of children a 'combined' achievement score of 82%, compared to a 2023 national average of just 59%. This was even better than last year! We are very proud of the children for ALL 'passing' their test papers for both reading and maths. This is a great achievement for them individually as well as a group. Our results as a whole stand out very well against the national figures, as can be seen below:
| Assessment | Pensford Result | National Result (provisional) | Difference |
| EYFS profile (Good Level of Development) | 91% | 68% | +23% |
| Phonics screening check (Y1)* | 92% | 80% | +12% |
| Full marks achieved in Y4 multiplication check | 47% | 35% | +12% |
| KS2 Reading test | 100% | 74% | +26% |
| KS2 Maths test | 100% | 73% | +27% |
| KS2 Writing | 82% | 72% | +10% |
| KS2 reading, writing & maths combined (expected level) | 82% | 61% | +21% |
| KS2 reading, writing & maths combined (higher level) | 9% | 7% | +2% |
*Children who do not pass this check in Year 1 re-take it in Year 2. We are proud that 2024 marks the ninth consecutive year in which no child has left Year 2 without passing the check!
2023 - This was another year in which the progress of the children who left the school at the end of Year 6 was outstanding. The progress measures this year were some of our best ever, comparable with the year in which it was confirmed that we were in the top 2% of schools, and last year which was another superb year for progress. (National average progress is 0.0 on this measure). Unfortunately the progress measure won't continue at a national level from 2024, so we won't be able to track this measure in future years.
| Reading Progress | Writing Progress | Maths Progress | Average Progress | |
| 2023 | +3.5 | +2.3 | +6.3 | +4.0 |
| 2022 | +4.9 | +1.4 | +3.2 | +3.2 |
| 2017 (top 2% of schools nationally) | +4.3 | +5.9 | +5.5 | +5.2 |
Here is a wider summary of our Key Stage 2 results compared to local and national averages:
You can find these results on the DfE compare schools performance page here.
2022 - For the seventh year in a row, no child left Key Stage 1 without having passed the phonics check. Early Years (Reception class) results were high, with 73% achieving a Good Level of Development and 100% reaching the expected standard in reading. Key Stage 1 teacher assessment results (informed by SATs tests and externally moderated) were also high, with 93% of children achieving the expected standard in reading and in maths, and 80% achieving it in writing. These figures are all well above even the pre-pandemic national percentages.
At Key Stage 2, our Year 6 SATs results were again consistently above the national averages, as shown below:
| Reading | Writing | Maths | Reading, Writing & Maths combined | Grammar, Punctuation & Spelling | Science | |
|
Pensford % EXS+ |
93% | 87% | 87% | 80% | 87% | 93% |
| National % EXS+ | 74% | 69% | 71% | 59% | 72% | 79% |
| Difference | +19% | +18% | +16% | +21% | +15% | +14% |
|
Pensford Av SS |
111 | 108 | 108 | |||
| National Av SS | 105 | 104 |
105 |
|||
| Difference | +6 | +4 | +3 | |||
| Progress* | +4.9 | +1.4 | +3.2 |
Key: EXS+ = Reaching at least the Expected Standard; Av SS = Average Scaled Score
*A note on progress: This is measured against a national average of 0. For comparison, in 2017 Pensford was in the top 2% of schools nationally with progress scores of 4.3, 5.9 and 5.5 in reading, writing and maths respectively.
Our Pupil Premium Strategy has also been effective in reducing the attainment gap across the whole school for disadvantaged pupils compared to their non-disadvantaged peers. Having grown during the pandemic, this gap has pretty much halved across all subjects, as you can see in the table below. We will continue to work very hard to reduce this further in 2022-23.
Gap in % achieving EXS+ between disadvantaged pupils compared to their non-disadvantaged peers (in all year groups). A negative gap means that the disadvantaged pupils did less well.
| Reading gap | Writing gap | Maths gap | Combined reading, writing maths gap | |
| 2021 | -54% | -54% | -56% | -52% |
| 2022 | -27% | -29% | -32% | -26% |
| Gap reduced by | 27% | 25% | 24% | 26% |
2021 As in 2020, no external moderation or SATs took place, due to the Coronavirus pandemic. However, highlights among the achievements of children at Pensford included the fact that, once again no child has left KS1 at Pensford without having passed the phonics check. This has now been the case for six years in a row. The Year 6 cohort who left the school this year all did so with results of which they can be truly proud. They included children with a very wide range of starting points, all of whom made very good progress from their Key Stage 1 starting points. Well done Year 6, and to all the children across the school, where attainment and progress were once again strengths of our school.
2020 No external moderation or SATs took place due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Our Year 6 group was a very high attaining cohort of children. Having already achieved very well in Key Stage 1, they went on to maintain their high standards. One third of the group achieved between 96 and 100% in the maths tests, and the attainment scores were well above national average across the board. The image below will take you to the Schools Performance Tables. As we have converted to Academy Status this year, we are not listed there for 2019. However, the percentage of our Year 6 children who achieved the higher standard across the core subjects would have put us in the top 3% of schools, and we would have also been in the top 12% of schools for those achieving the expected standard.
2019 - A particular highlight this year was that the percentage of pupils achieving a 'Good Level of Development' in Reception was the third highest in Bath and NE Somerset. We believe that this demonstrated the impact of having, for the first year, a dedicated Reception class with just 15 children and two experienced full time staff. This arrangement is now permanently in place at Pensford. Please see below for the very good Key Stage 2 results in 2019 too.
2018 This year saw us follow up on the very strong progress of 2017. The children made better than average progress in reading, and again our writing and maths progress scores were in the highest tier, "Well Above Average" on the DfE Performance Tables website.
2017 Attainment across reading, writing and maths both increased and continued to be above national average; the progress scores easily put us in the top 2% of schools that year. The Minister of State for Schools wrote to us about these results and you can see the letter here.
2016 - The Year 6 cohort achieved attainment that was well above national averages in all their tests. This put us 8th in the league table of schools for B&NES, as published in the Times newspaper.
Our Assessment Policy is available here.
Attainment and progress data in Key Stage 2 for 2019
(You can click on the image below to go to the DfE Performance Tables)
Progress and Scaled Scores in the individual subjects:
| Subject |
Average Scaled Score (National average in brackets) |
Average Progress Score (National average = 0) |
| Reading | 105.9 (104.4) | -0.57 |
| Writing | N/A | -0.17 |
| Maths | 109.1 (105.0) | +2.02 |