This in from the council, in their own words. Ed
Provisional GCSE results show a significant improvement for some schools on the Isle of Wight, although the overall proportion achieving five A* to C GCSE passes, including English and mathematics, has declined slightly from 2013.
Lowest overall percentage since 2011
Results reported by the Island’s secondary schools show 47 per cent achieved five A* to C GCSE passes, including English and mathematics, almost two per cent lower than the 2013 result. Limited national information is available but in 2013, 60.6 per cent of students achieved the same measure.
As has been widely reported there have been some major changes to GCSEs this year and while the overall impact on the national picture is unclear these changes have resulted in a 1.9 per cent decline in the A* to C national pass rate in English GCSE.
Verified results in the autumn
Around 1,500 pupils on the Island sat exams this summer. The achievement of five or more A* to C grades including English and mathematics is the government target for pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 (aged 16) and achieving this prepares young people for their post-16 education. When the official results are published later in the autumn, schools will also be judged against some new targets including the progress children have made in English and mathematics and their performance in their ‘best eight’ subjects.
Councillor Richard Priest, Executive member for children’s services, said:
“All those who sat GCSE and vocational examinations should be praised for their achievements and we appreciate the work of parents in supporting them.
“I am pleased that some schools have improved their results but we all must recognise that overall we still have a long way to go. When we entered into the partnership with Hampshire we did not anticipate major improvements in GCSEs in the first year. We have laid the foundations on which we are already building for the future.
“The improvements we have already seen in primary schools are very encouraging and we anticipate the work we have done with secondary schools will bring about similar improvement. This is especially in light of the recent positive comments from Ofsted on the arrangements we have in place for school improvement.”
Image: Todd Binger under CC BY 2.0
