With Contextual Value Added (CVA) tables very much in the media spotlight recently Harrow Way School has created a guide to help parents de-mystify this somewhat complicated measurement. Harrow Way’s Parents’ Guide to CVA is available to download here or by visiting the school and collecting a leaflet.
CVA tables are published annually by the Department for Children, Schools and Families. In the most recent figures, published last month, 
Harrow Way was ranked 12th (out of 71 secondary schools) in Hampshire County Council’s contextual value added (CVA) table.
Headteacher Charlie Currie explains why it is important parents understand CVA and why he has created this guide: “CVA delves beneath GCSE results as a measure of the progress students make at a given school. In other words it is an indicator to the standards of teaching and learning there. For parents, CVA is an important tool to use when evaluating potential schools but it can be rather complicated to understand. We have therefore created this simple guide to help parents and de-mystify CVA.â€
Harrow Way will also be issuing the Guide through its feeder schools in order to reach as many potential parents as possible.
As Charlie Currie concludes: “We are enormously proud to be ranked 12th out of all the 71 secondary schools in Hampshire. However, with the lack of clarity around CVA, some people will not appreciate the significance of this achievement. Please come and pick up a copy of the CVA Guide or download one here as I genuinely believe this is something all parents need to have some knowledge of.â€
For more information on Harrow Way Community School, please call 01264 364533. Visits to the school by appointment are always welcome.