TENBURY High School has had a dip in GCSE results following a record year in 2018, according to the latest school league tables.

From being Above Average last year the school has dropped to Average, and posted a negative score for the progress pupils made.

In the list of Worcestershire schools it comes 24th out of 34, with a Progress score that is below the average for the county and for the country.

The Department of Education tables focus on a Progress score which looks at what a student was achieving when they started secondary school and, from that, works out what you would expect them to achieve at GCSE.

The idea is to make sure you don’t simply measure exam results, because schools that can select their pupils can have an unfair advantage.

Tenbury – which is rated Good by Ofsted inspectors - recorded a negative Progress score of -0.16. That’s a sharp drop on the year before, which was a plus score of 0.48.

The -0.16 compares with a Worcestershire average of plus 0.06 and -0.03 for England’s State-funded schools.

The school fell behind the county and country performance in other measures.

Of the 67 GCSE pupils last year, 40% got a Grade 5 or above in English and Maths. That compares to 43% for the county and country.

And for what they achieved across 8 GCSE subjects, Tenbury scored 45.6 against a county total of 46.6.

However, the school did match the county average and was above the national performance in the exam scores its pupils achieved from their six best grades.

A spokesperson for the Ormiston Academy which runs the school said: “We are proud of the high-quality education we provide our pupils. Over the last few years we have made significant progress in raising attainment and in 2018 pupils at the academy achieved record GCSE results.

“In 2019, at GCSE nearly half our pupils achieved Grade 5 and above in both English and maths, defined by the Government as a strong pass. Over a third of grades achieved were also at the high Grades 6 to 9 (previously A*-B) and 17% of all grades achieved were the top Grades 7-9. The academy’s Progress 8 score was also within the national average.

“We will continue working hard to drive further improvement and raise standards, to ensure that all our pupils are supported to fulfil their potential.”

Top school in Worcestershire was St Augustine’s RC at Redditch with a 0.99 Progress rating, followed by Nunnery Wood in Worcester at 0.51.

Other than Special Schools, the worst performing county school at GCSE was Stourport, rated Well Below Average at -0.49.

A full list of scores and explanations is available at https://www.gov.uk/school-performance-tables