Secondary school success
The best part of doing the job of Lewisham’s cabinet member for Children and Young People comes in August, with the chance to visit our schools and join the celebrations as our young people get the reward for their hard work and receive their exam results for A-Levels and GCSEs and vocational courses.
On Thursday 15 August my colleague Cabinet member Amanda De Ryk visited joint Sydenham and Forest Hill Sixth Form with Ellie Reeves MP to watch as students opened their A-level results.
Councillor Amanda De Ryk, Blackheath Labour Councillor & Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources and Performance says: “Congratulations to all the young people across the borough collecting their A-Level results, you have done incredibly well and worked hard to achieve fantastic results. I was so pleased to meet and speak to some of the young people at Sydenham and Forest Hill who were collecting their results. I have a particular connection to the school as my son is currently in SFH6 and my daughter was head girl at Sydenham School, so I know first-hand the incredible support that the school provides to their students – whatever their background and wherever they are in their journey, no young person is left behind. I want to wish all young people across the borough who have received their results today the very best for their futures.”
Ellie Reeves MP and Cllr Amanda De Ryk speaking to A-Level students opening their results at SFH6
Borough-wide results are looking good: A Level results this year have been good across all our secondary schools and have improved on 2023.Out of all our A level entries, 7.2% were an A* grade, which is 1.1% points higher than in 2023. This is a consistent improvement on 2019 outcomes which were 3.2%. All schools have seen either an increase or no change in the proportion of A level entries achieving an A* grade.
A week after A Levels, on Thursday 22 August, I visited Addey and Stanhope School in New Cross and Deptford Green School with Brenda Dacres, Mayor of Lewisham, as students got their GCSE results. It is always a pleasure to visit our secondary schools on exam results days to congratulate the students and hear about what they plan to go on and do. As you may have seen from media coverage around GCSE results nationally, 2024 grades in England were broadly similar to last year, having returned to around 2019 levels in 2023, after the turbulence of the pandemic years. Against that background, results for Lewisham schools are again encouraging. At 46.9 Lewisham’s average Attainment 8 score is 2.5 points above 2019. There’s a similar trend in English and Maths (66% getting 9-4, compared with 59% in 2019). There’s also good news on Progress 8, which measures average attainment at each school adjusted for differences in prior attainment – in the past that has been disappointingly below national, but is now significantly above. This is a testament to the talent and resilience of our young people, and our dedicated school staff who work tirelessly to help their students achieve their goals.
Cllr Chris Barnham and Brenda Dacres, Mayor of Lewisham at Addey and Stanhope School with GCSE students
Summer is always a good time to reflect on where we are and where we need to go. It’s been a consistent priority for Lewisham to support our schools to improve and serve our young people better. I’m pleased that this seems to be paying off: nearly 99% of our schools are judged to be Good or Outstanding by OFSTED – well above national and London averages. We know there is more to do, but the latest exam results indicate the progress that continues to be made.
Schools are vital in building the future our children deserve. In the current cost of living crisis, it’s fantastic that Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is continuing to provide funding for all primary children to get free school meals in the coming school year.
In Lewisham, as well as helping families with primary school children it means we can allocate more funding to our secondary schools to help with the growing issue of school hunger – young people coming to school with no money or food. I’ve been working with my Cabinet colleague Amanda De Ryk to tackle this issue and it’s been heartening when I visit schools to see how they are using the £500,000 we have been able to offer schools so far. From breakfast clubs, to food parcels, to free after school clubs teaching basic cooking skills- it’s yet another way our schools are showing that they are at the heart of their communities. We’re pleased that the new government has extended the Household Support Fund, which enables us to provide this much-needed help to schools.
Cllr Chris Barnham speaking to GCSE student opening results at Addey and Stanhope School Finally, as we start the new academic term, my thoughts go to our Year 6 parents, who will be visiting and applying for secondary schools over the next two months. We have so many excellent secondary schools right on our doorstep here in Lewisham, which have grown in popularity in recent years. I strongly urge you to go and visit and find what they can offer your child.
We run a ‘Starting secondary school in 2025 event’ and this year it will take place on Wednesday 25 September 2024, 5pm – 8pm, Civic Suite, Catford Road, SE6 4RX. If your child is starting secondary school next year, please come to the event. You can register on Eventbrite.