Grove Academy Nineteenth in Sunday Times League Table of Top Fifty State Secondary Schools in Scotland

Yesterday, as part of their Parent Power supplement, the Sunday Times published their list of the Top Fifty State Secondary Schools in Scotland. 

Grove came in joint nineteenth place (17th in 2014).

Congratulations to the pupils and staff at Grove for maintaining the school in the top twenty at a time of profound changes to the curriculum and SQA examinations. Of course the results at Grove also reflect positively on the support of parents and carers and the excellent groundwork provided by the pupils' Nursery and Primary Schools.

The Sunday Times table was calculated with reference to the 2014 National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher examination results with Highers and Advanced Highers double weighted.

A much wider range of measures about the Grove 'results' is available on the Education Scotland website - follow this link. The latest 'Insight' tool provides comparisons between the performance of Grove school leavers with a sample of pupils with similar backgrounds.

SQA Admit That 2015 Higher Maths Exam Was Too Hard

The fairness of the Higher Maths examination, which pupils sat in May 2015, is an issue that won't go away. The Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) gave evidence to the Education and Culture Committee meeting at the Scottish Parliament this week.

Dr Janet Brown, Director of the SQA informed the Committee that the Higher Maths paper had been written along the same guidelines as exemplar and specimen papers, and the "structure and nature of questions within it was part of the course and was explained to teachers". But, she added, it became "very obvious" that the exam had been "a standard which was over and above what we had anticipated". She also confirmed that the pass mark had been reduced to 33.8% to compensate.

Scottish Labour’s Opportunity Spokesperson Iain Gray said the statement showed the SQA “still don’t get it” and that parents and students affected will take “no comfort” in the fact the results were adjusted. He called for the Government to review what had gone wrong.

“They now need to face up their responsibility and ensure that people can have confidence in the SQA and its exam system,” he said.

Commenting on SQA Exam Results in Dundee August 2015

I warmly congratulate pupils and students in Dundee on all their successes in their various SQA examinations and assessments. These successes, notified earlier today to every candidate, will not be a flash in the pan but will be based on learning over a sustained period of time. I also want to acknowledge the dedication and the inspiration of our teachers and the encouragement and support from parents and carers who have all have been part of the story behind these successes.

Currently only Scotland wide statistics are publicly available. There are many questions outstanding today which require some answers from the Director of Education such as:

• how do the results of our school pupils add up across the city?
• how do these city wide results compare with previous years?
• how did our pupils who sat the controversial Higher Maths paper get on and 
• what do these examination results indicate about the 'attainment gap' in Dundee schools?

But for today, the focus should be on celebrating the positive results of our pupils who deserve their day enjoying their successes. Well done!

Worrying Claims Higher Maths Exam Was Dumbed Down

Earlier today a former senior examiner at the SQA has claimed that this year’s Higher Maths exam was ‘dumbed down’.

These are serious allegations and they come on the back of the departure of the senior Higher Maths examination team at the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA). Concerns were previously expressed that the marking regime would be altered to ensure that pass rates didn’t fall and now we have an experienced examiner saying that standards have been significantly lower and the exam questions have been dumbed down. 

Pupils, parents and carers, employers and universities need to know that standards are being maintained and quality is not being compromised. This is the latest in a series of worrying reports about the Higher Maths exam. Mike Russell, the Education Secretary in the Scottish Government needs to explain just exactly what is going on and give an assurance that there is no 'grade inflation' going on behind the scenes. 

Scottish Labour also believes that the Education Committee of the Scottish Parliament should conduct an inquiry into this when the Parliament resumes in September. We can't afford to be complacent about maintaining the gold standard of our Scottish Higher examinations.