The government’s new preliminary performance figures for state-funded secondary schools were released on Thursday (December 5), with primary school and sixth form data expected to follow in the coming weeks.
The release of these official league tables was initially delayed, due to what the government described as “quality issues”. It is worth noting, however, that these figures are still preliminary - meaning minor adjustments might still be made.
The figures include ‘Progress 8’ scores for the 23/24 academic year, which show how secondary schools across the country are faring compared with others and give schools a positive or negative score, measuring the progress that pupils make from Key Stage 2 in primary school right up to the end of their GCSEs in Key Stage 4.
It was introduced in 2016 as a fairer way to assess a school’s academic performance, rather than simply looking at raw grades and outcomes.
A score above zero means pupils have achieved better results on average at their school than at other schools across England that got similar results at the end of Key Stage 2, and 0.5 or higher is classes as ‘well above average’.
A score below zero does not mean there was no progress, but means that pupils made less progress than at schools with higher scores. However, some overall negative scores may be classed as ‘average’ when the confidence interval spans both above and below zero.
In Liverpool, three secondary schools achieved a ‘well above average’ score and one achieved an ‘above average’ score. A number of schools did not record any Progress 8 scores or had their scores suppressed and are therefore not included in this list. Below are the nine Liverpool schools to achieve an average Progress 8 score or higher.

1. The Blue Coat School, Wavertree, Liverpool
The Blue Coat School achieved a Progress 8 score of 0.77 which is ‘well above average’. | Google

2. Archbishop Blanch CofE High School, Kensington, Liverpool
Archbishop Blanch CofE High School achieved a Progress 8 score of 0.63 which is ‘well above average’. | Google

3. King David High School, Wavertree, Liverpool
King David High School achieved a Progress 8 score of 0.5 which is ‘well above average’. | Google

4. Liverpool College, Mossley Hill, Liverpool
Liverpool College achieved a Progress 8 score of 0.29 which is ‘above average’. | Google Street View