Test, exam and assessment results
Schools are judged predominantly on the attainment and progress of their students. At Kirk Balk Academy, we believe that our students are as capable, if not more capable, than any other student elsewhere in the country. To that end, we often compare how well our students are doing in relation to all students nationally. We like to do this in 4 year ‘chunks’ so that all of our stakeholders, including parents and carers, can see how we are improving over time.
What is reflected below are our trends over time in relation to the attainment of our students, the progress that they make and some key information about our attendance statistics.
Should you require any specific information about achievement or standards then please feel free to contact the academy using the information provided in the contact us sections.
For more information on the data below, view our Academy performance on the DfE Website.
2024 Headline Results – Attainment
Attainment at Key Stage 4
% of students achieving a Strong Pass (Grades 9 to 5) or the in English and Maths (‘The Strong Pass ‘Basics’)
% achieving 9-5 in English and Maths | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
Kirk Balk Figure | 54% | 59% | 50.2% |
National Figure | 50% | 50% | |
Difference | +4% | +9% |
% of students achieving a Standard Pass (Grades 9 to 4) or the equivalent of the ‘old style’ A*-C grades in English and Maths (‘The Standard Pass ‘Basics’)
% achieving 9-4 (or A*-C) in English and Maths | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
Kirk Balk Figure | 76% | 71% | 70.6% |
National Figure | 70% | 70% | |
Difference | +6% | +1% |
% of students achieving the English Baccalaureate or E-Bacc at a ‘Strong Pass’ (using grade 5+ in English and Maths, Science a humanity and a language)
% achieving the E-Bacc (using 5+) | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
Kirk Balk Figure | 27% | 20% | 21.6% |
National Figure | 17% | 17% | |
Difference | +10% | +3% |
% of students achieving the English Baccalaureate or E-Bacc at a ‘Strong Pass’ (using grade 4+ in English and Maths and equivalent to the ‘old style’ A*-C)
% achieving the E-Bacc (using 4+) | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
Kirk Balk Figure | 34% | 29% | 27.5% |
National Figure | 24% | 24% | |
Difference | +10% | +3% |
% of students Entering the Ebacc
% entering the Ebacc | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
Kirk Balk Figure | 41% | 43% | 40.4% |
National Figure | 34% | 34% | |
Difference | +7% | +9% |
2024 Headline Results – Progress 8 and Attainment 8
The government and public (both as parents and taxpayers) have a right to understand how effective schools, colleges and academies are in their work. There is a clear need for appropriate accountability mechanisms to support this.
Successive governments have determined which of the headline measures within the national performance tables they believe to be a national priority and/or best reflect their views on how to quantify effectiveness. These measures have changed over time. Most recently the emphasis has been on the percentage of students who achieve five or more A*- C grades, including English and Mathematics and information on this measure has been provided to you on this page.
In light of a complete review of the current accountability system, there are a new set of measures which are now in operation.
At the end of their time in secondary education, schools and academies will now be held to account via what is called the ‘Progress 8’ indicator.
This represents a shift in focus away from raw attainment in favor of progress through all grade boundaries in a number of subjects. Alongside Progress 8, there will be other important headline measures. These include what is now called the ‘strong pass basics’ measure. This is the percentage of students achieving at least grade 5 in both English and Mathematics. This year, we have also published the percentage of students achieving at least grade 4 in both English and Mathematics (the ‘standard pass basics’) as this compares more easily to the old A*-C grades. Also high profile is the percentage of students who achieve The English Baccalaureate (Ebacc).
We appreciate that some of this information may appear complex to parents and carers not overly familiar with educational terminology. However, we feel that in the interests of transparency, all of our partners should have access to this information.
Should you require any further information in this regard then please do not hesitate to contact the academy to discuss these changes further. A useful guide is also available on our website.
Progress 8
Please note that Progress 8 scores by each ‘element’ are available by contacting the academy. Our projections for 2020 show a significantly improving picture with regards to progress across all elements.
Progress 8 Score OVERALL | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
Kirk Balk Figure | +0.1 | -0.9 | |
National Figure | 0.00 | ||
Improvement | +0.9 |
Attainment 8
Attainment 8 Score OVERALL | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
Kirk Balk Figure | 50.6 | 50.5 | 46.79 |
National Figure | 48.8 | 46.2 | |
Difference | +1.8 | +4.3 |
Destination Data
Please find below details of student destination data for Kirk Balk Academy leavers.
This measures the number of students who stayed in education, training or an apprenticeship after Year 11.
% of Kirk Balk Academy Year 11 leavers | |||
Destination | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
Education | 84.7% | 83.0% | 87.0% |
Apprenticeship | 9.6% | 5.0% | 8.0% |
Training | 1.3% | 2.0% | 0.7% |
Employment with Training | 2.6% | 2.0% | 1.0% |
NEET | 1.7% | 7.0% | 1.6% |
Not Known | 1.3% | 1.0% | 1.7% |
For more information please visit the Department for Education website.