FOR many years school league tables have ranked schools on how many pupils get five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C.

But from January this will change, with schools instead measured on a new system known as Progress 8.

For most schools this year's exams will be the first time they have had to deal with Progress 8 but some Oxfordshire schools, including Oxford Spires Academy, took part in the pilot scheme last year.

Headteacher Sue Croft said the East Oxford school decided very early on to opt into the scheme and has been pleased with how it has worked so far.

She said: "We thought it was right because it was about all students and because it was clearly going to be the future.

"It is quite complex to work it all out because there is so much data involved so we thought it would pay to be on the pilot and learn the lessons.

"It turned out to be the right decision.

"The most important distinction is that with five GCSEs at A* to C we were focusing on those pupils on the borderline C/D grade.

"But for those pupils who could not achieve a C grade they could feel like failures.

"Progress 8 is much fairer, it fits into our ethos of no child left behind and being the best that you can be."

An Attainment 8 score for each pupil is based on their previous attainment in key stage two in primary school.

Their grades in eight GCSE subjects, including English, maths, a modern language, a science and a humanity and three other subjects, with English and maths weighted double, are then compared to their predicted grades as calculated based on their prior attainment.

For example, if a pupil was expected to get four Bs and four Cs at GCSE but actually got a B and not a C in science she is given a Progress 8 score of 0.1, as she has got a grade better than expected.

If she had got a grade better than a B in English as well she would achieve 0.3 as English is counted twice.

Oxford Spires Academy got a score of 0.62 in its first year using Progress 8 - meaning pupils moved up slightly more than half a grade on average for all students across all eight subjects.

Ms Croft said: "It means every subject counts whereas with five A* to C if you were subjects seven, eight and nine you might have felt a bit left out of what was going on.

"Every single child counts and that was not the case before.

"Extra support used to be directed towards pupils on the boundary between grade C and grade D but that is not the case any more.

"Now it is focussed on those underachieving across the full ability range."

League tables have long been used by parents to determine where their child should go to school, but the Oxford Spires headteacher said Progress 8 should prove straightforward for them.

She said: "Given how easy we have found it to adapt parents will find it very easy.

"If a school is rated zero it is average, if it is below zero it is below average and if it is above zero it is above average.

"I think that makes a lot of sense to a parent."