Exam Results

Academic Excellence

We are very proud of the academic achievements of our students. Students at Soar Valley achieve some of the highest results in the city year after year, and progress measures are consistently strong.

Performance information 2019 - 2023

Results in 2023 were again outstanding!  Schools were told they would return to 2019 levels (with those in 2020 and 2021 being determined by teacher assessments), but in fact results at Soar Valley remain in line with those in 2022 in many areas, a fantastic achievement.

Key performance measures for schools are the proportion of students who attained a Good Pass in English and mathematics (grade 4 or above) and a Strong Pass (grade 5 and above).  NB. For English, it is the student’s best grade of English Language and Literature which is included.

As can be seen from the table, Soar Valley’s results are significantly above national and, even with a return to formal examinations, are well above 2019 levels and very similar to those obtained through Teacher Assessments in 2021 and amended exams in 2022.  They demonstrate excellent levels of progress for our students from their starting points on entry in year 7. 

Progress Measures

A figure called Progress 8 is also usually reported on. This figure is a calculation based on the achievement across 8 subjects for each student based on whether they met, exceeded or were below their expected performance in each subject. A figure is then calculated for the whole school. -0.5 is considered to be the ‘floor standard’, or the minimum expected standard set by the government, and national averages are just below 0.

This figure was +0.5 for Soar Valley in 2017, +0.3 in 2018, and +0.5 for 2019.  Our internal data showed figures for 2020 and 2021 of +0.51 and +0.58 respectively (national figures will not be released for these two academic years). 2022 saw our best progress scores ever, at +0.73.

Early indications are that the 2023 figure will be similar to 2022, in the region of +0.7 again.

This means our students make significantly more progress than their peers nationally on average, and indicates very strong performance.

The English Baccalaureate

The EBacc is a measure that continues to be reported on. This year 32% of students entered the EBacc suite of subjects, meaning they studied English, maths, science, and two from geography, history, computer science and French or German. Our policy is to not force any particular option choices on students, but to allow and guide them to follow their strengths and interests. At Soar Valley, students who are capable of doing the EBacc are advised that this is a pathway that they should consider but they are not made to do so if their interests and abilities lie in other subjects. The EBacc figure reflects this student-centred approach and the breadth of our curriculum.

The Average Point Score for 2023 for the EBacc is 4.29, which compares well to the 2022 average of 4.08 in Leicester City.

Attainment 8

This is the average grade that students obtained in their GCSEs at a school, and for 2019 this was 48.30.  In 2023, the year when results were to fall back to 2019 standards, the attainment 8 figure is 51.05, impressively an increase on the 2019 figure and only just below that of 2022. Given that our students have very varied starting points when they enter the school in year 7, these represent very impressive outcomes and again demonstrate outstanding progress.

Destination measures

A measure of a school’s success is how well-prepared students are for the next stage in their life. In 2021 96.9% of our students were in full-time education, employment or training by November of the year they left school, 96.8% in 2022.  This reflects the strong emphasis in school on careers education and preparation for working life.

 Click here to visit the DFE School Performance Website