Classroom

Council vow to keep results improving

GCSE exam results across Medway have risen for the seventh year running - but council chiefs insist there will be no let up in ensuring scores keep improving.

The Department for Education released its latest school league tables on Thursday.

It revealed more students in the area gained five of more GCSEs - or equivalent qualifications - between A* and C than ever before, and exceeding the national average.

Nine Medway schools saw improvements on last year’s results for five or more A* to Cs including English and maths, including the Rainham School for Girls, which improved by nine per cent to 55 per cent.

Greenacre School was up 10 per cent to 41 per cent, St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School saw results rise by eight per cent, and the Strood Academy, which jumped 16 percentage points to 49 per cent.

For The Howard School in Rainham, this year was the eighth year running the school has seen their results improve, with 91 per cent of students gaining five or more A*s to Cs and 57 per cent gaining 5 or more A*s to Cs including English and maths.

Overall, 83.3 per cent of Medway students gained 5 A* to C grades in exams taken last summer, compared to 77 per cent last year and a national average of 79.5 per cent.

A total of 3,231 students sat GCSE exams in Medway during the summer with Thursday’s announcement the first time this year’s results have been made public.

They also reveal that the number of students achieving the target of five or more GCSE (or equivalent) grades at A* to C including English and mathematics has increased from 53.6 per cent last year to 55.7 per cent this year. This is also up on 51.7 per cent in 2009.

Medway Council’s portfolio holder for children’s services, Les Wicks, said: “There have been some good results across the board this year, with significant improvements at many of our schools and the best GCSE results in Medway for the seventh year running.

“Participation in post 16 education has continued to increase every year and more students are succeeding in leaving school or college with at least three A-levels.

“We have a strong record of improvement here in Medway, and while we are of course pleased with the overall results, we know there’s more to be done and will continue to work hard to ensure schools are making good progress and achieving the right results for their students.”

In addition, Medway’s schools continue to do better than the national average in the number of students achieving five or more GCSE (or equivalent) passes at A* to G grades. At 94.6 per cent, this beats the national average of 93.5 per cent. Those gaining five or more A* to G grades including English and mathematics is 93.3 per cent, which is higher than the national average of 92.1 per cent.

In the post 16 Key Stage 5 results, more Medway students left school with three or more A-levels this year, with a rise of nearly three per cent from 79 per cent in 2010 to 82.4 per cent in 2011.