This gives data about an applicant's school or college, and local area, which can be used for contextualised admissions, to help assess their prior attainment, and potential to succeed in light of their educational background.
In response to qualification reform and policy changes, school performance measures – which form a significant part of this service – are undergoing change in England and Wales. Similarly, Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland has resulted in changes to the way the data is reported.
This means that care must be taken when making comparisons with past years of data. For example, for attainment 8, the Department for Education (DfE) in England will be transitioning to a new points system different to 2016, due to the introduction of the new 9 – 1 graded GCSEs. You can read more in Annex A of the DfE’s 'Secondary accountability measures' guide.
To continue supporting you in widening participation in HE, the below 2017 school and college-level data will be available for the 2019 admissions cycle, through our link products.
|
Measure |
England |
Wales |
Scotland |
Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Average attainment 8 score per student |
Yes* |
|
|
|
|
Average Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA) points per A level entry (or equivalent) |
Yes |
Yes |
|
|
|
Average QCA points per A level student (or equivalent) |
|
Yes |
|
|
|
Average QCA points score for best eight GCSEs |
|
Yes |
|
|
|
% of students achieving five A* – C GCSEs, including English/Welsh and maths (or equivalent) |
|
Yes |
|
Yes |
|
% of students entitled to free school meals (FSM) |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Yes |
|
% of students entitled to Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) |
|
Yes |
|
Yes |
|
Average UCAS points for Highers per student |
|
|
Yes* |
|
|
Average UCAS points score for Highers per entry |
|
|
Yes* |
|
|
% of students registered for FSM |
|
|
Yes |
|
|
% of pupils receiving EMA |
|
|
Yes |
|
* Only available in web-link.
The service also provides local area data in the form of POLAR2, POLAR3, and the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). We’re currently exploring if we can supply POLAR4 data, but this will not be available for the 2019 cycle.
For more information, please contact contextualdata@ucas.ac.uk.