Another rise in local pupils gaining top GCSE grades

October 18, 2016 by Southend Borough Council

Another rise in local pupils gaining top GCSE grades

Wednesday 19th October 2016

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council is congratulating schools after provisional figures released nationally showed that the Borough was ranked 15th in the country for the new ‘Attainment 8’ measure, and above the national average for other new measures that have been introduced.

‘Attainment 8’ scores are based on all of their pupils' results across eight subjects. These are maths and English, the best of up to three further qualifications which count in the English Baccalaureate and the three best results of any GCSE qualification or non-GCSE qualifications on a DfE approved list of subjects.

The results also show a rise in the old ‘headline’ measure of number of pupils achieving 5 or more A* - C GCSE grades including English and maths.

The percentage of pupils in Southend-on-Sea achieving this benchmark has provisionally climbed from 63.9 per cent in 2015 to 64.8% per cent in 2016. The percentage of pupils achieving A*-C in English and maths has also risen from a provisional 65.7% in 2015 to a provisional 68.5% in 2016 and results in the English Baccalaureate also went up. This is the third year in a row that the results have increased and performance relative to the national average has also -improved.

As a result of the improvements in the borough, Southend-on-Sea was in the top 25% of all local authorities overall and in the top 50% for progress.

Cllr James Courtenay, Executive Councillor for Children and Learning, said: ““I am absolutely delighted that the hard work of students and staff in all schools in Southend-on-Sea has been recognised in these latest provisional results from the government.

“I congratulate the schools and pupils for achieving so well in comparison to the national results, placing us firmly in the top 25% or better of other Local Authorities.

“I am very pleased that the initiatives that the Council has put in place to work alongside schools in true partnership, added to their great efforts means that we will continue to ensure we sustain and improve on this position, whilst at the same time work hard to improve on those areas where we have not performed as well.

“We want all of our students to aim higher and give our students the best possible foundations for their journey into adulthood. Parents can rest assured that this is a challenge we are determined to continue tackling head on.”