Exam results getting better

Date published: 12/01/2007

Figures published on Thursday 11 January confirm that local teenagers’ GCSE results are getting better faster than the national average.

Achievement and attainment tables published by the Department for Education and Skills show that the proportion of local students gaining five GCSEs at grade A to C including English and maths is 37.1%, compared with a national figure of 45.8%.

Underlying figures show that local students’ performance is improving more quickly than the national average, meaning that local youngsters are catching up with national average standards.

Also, for the first time, more than half local students taking GCSE have passed five or more exams at grade A to C (not necessarily including English and maths).  The local figure is 50.3%, compared with a national average of 59.2%.

Tables showing the scores for local schools and colleges with sixth-forms enable the 2006 performance of individual schools to be compared but there are no figures for 2005 to show how things have changed.  The reason is that the way points scores for exams are worked out has been changed this year so comparison with last year like-for-like is not possible.

Sue Brown, Head of Schools for Rochdale Council, said: "The figures show that the steady improvement in GCSE results continues and that local students’ results are improving faster than the national average.

"Combined with local children’s improving performance in Key Stage 2 tests at age 11, this is good news for our schools.

"The tables for performance at A-level don’t allow comparison with last year’s results because the way points scores are calculated has changed.  However, our own figures show that if we used the old system of calculation, local students’ performance at A-level is starting to improve.

"The improvement in results is thanks to a lot of hard work by our schools and their pupils and students.

"Our recent success in bidding for money through the Building Schools for the Future programme means we will be able to make big improvements to secondary schools over the next six years, adding to our success in opening new primary schools and further improving the prospects for education in the future."