Government hails progress of Ely College as it’s named in top 100 for student progress

ELY College is one of the top 100 most improved schools in England, in terms of the progress students make between starting at the college and taking their GCSEs, according to a letter sent to the head teacher by the Minister of State for Schools.

In the letter, David Laws MP congratulates the “staff, governors and pupils for their hard work and success”, and thanks head Catherine Jenkinson-Dix for her “leadership in continuing the drive towards high standards of educational achievement.”

The plaudits came in the week the Department for Education published its school performance tables, which compare schools in a number of ways to provide parents with an idea of how their local choices stack up against national and regional averages.

The tables this year show that, on the government’s key measure - the number of students achieving five or more A*-C grades at GCSE including English and Maths - Ely College was not only in the top 100 most improved nationally, but was also the third most improved in Cambridgeshire in 2012, bettering its 2011 performance by 10 per cent.

The tables also provide data that shows how students progress whilst at secondary school, given prior attainment. Taking this data into account, Ely College comes out even better.

Catherine Jenkinson-Dix, Principal, said: “At a time when my colleagues and I are working harder than we can ever remember with no let up in the pace, this is a real confidence boost.

“On a comparison of raw scores alone, we are not where we would like to be, but the levels of progress and improvement data show that we are doing the right things to raise standards and achieve our very challenging targets.”

Indeed, Laws writes that he hopes the College is “able to continue this rate of progress, so that one day soon I can write to you to commend you not only for being one of the most rapidly improving schools, but also one of the highest performing schools on this measure.”