Pupils across Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin notched up record GCSE results today, reflecting the national picture of one in five exams awarded top grades.
Nationally 20.7 per cent of grades were at A* or A, an increase of 1.2 percentage points on last year. More than 65.7 per cent were at grades A to C, up from 63.3 per cent.
See our GCSE results photo gallery here
Three Telford & Wrekin schools - Adams’ Grammar School, Newport High School and Thomas Telford - along with Shrewsbury Girls High
But one of the biggest success stories is The Grange School in Shrewsbury which today smashed the Government’s new GCSE standard just two months after it was branded as failing for missing the key target.
The Grange was among more than 600 - including six in Telford & Wrekin - warned to improve performance or risk intervention or closure.
But today The Grange was celebrating a 43 per cent success rate compared to the previous 29.4 per cent.
Headteacher Julia Thomas said: “This is a tribute to staff and pupils, and the support of families.”
Sixty-three per cent of candidates gained five or more A* to C grades - excluding the two core subjects - compared to 60 per cent last year.
Janet Brown, chairman of the Shrewsbury Partnership for Education and Training, said targets had been exceeded.
At Shrewsbury Girls High, all 75 candidates achieved five or more high grades. Head Marilyn Cass said there had been “outstanding results” in maths and English Literature.
There were records set also at Concord College, Acton Burnell, where almost 64 per cent of results have been gained at A* or A grades.
Three of the Telford & Wrekin schools on the list have also achieved or beaten the standard - Blessed Robert Johnson, Abraham Darby and Wrockwardine Wood.
At Burton Borough School in Newport there was a nine per cent increase in students achieving five or more GCSEs at grade C or above.
Among the top performers at Newport was Hollie Higgins, who achieved nine A* grades and two A grades in AS Level maths and ICT.
Wrekin College student Jamie Cherrington, 16, of The Rock, achieved 10 A* and an A in his GCSEs.
Other figures for five passes or above A*-C included: Charlton School, Wellington, 72 per cent; Sutherland School, Trench, 48 per cent; Ercall Wood Technology College, Wellington, 50 per cent; Hadley Learning Community, 38 per cent; Abraham Darby School, Madeley, 41 per cent; Burton Borough School in Newport, 61 per cent; Phoenix School, Dawley, 42 per cent; Lord Silkin, Stirchley, 41 per cent; and Wrockwardine Wood Arts College, 48 per cent.
Councillor Stephen Burrell, Telford & Wrekin Council lead member for children and young people, said: “We are very encouraged with some of the excellent results, along with the progress made by many of our schools. Results are down to the hard work of students, and the commitment and support of staff, governors and parents.”
And at the biggest secondary in either Shropshire or Telford & Wrekin,The Marches at Oswestry, 71 per cent of pupils have achieved five or more top passes.
Students at the Lakelands School, Sports and Language College, Ellesmere, were celebrating after achieving the best ever GCSE results for the school.
A total of 76 per cent of the students gained five or more grades at C or above, with A and A* grades amounting to 26 per cent of the total GCSE grades.
Ian Sanders, headteacher, said: “We are delighted by the success of the class of 2008.”
And staff at Market Drayton’s Grove School are expecting more than 50 per cent of students to achieve five GCSEs, grade A*-C, for the third year running.
At Thomas Adams School in Wem, 74 per cent of students at Thomas Adams School, Wem, gained five or more A* to C grades.
Neil Hemming, headteacher, said: “These excellent results reflect all the hard work put in during the year.
“In particular, we are overjoyed the students have been able to exceed the demanding targets set for them by the Government.”
At Sir John Talbot’s Technology College, Whitchurch, 86 per cent of students achieved five or more A*-G GCSE passes, with 51 per cent achieving five or more A*-C passes.
Malcolm Roddy, headteacher, said: “Students and staff have worked exceptionally hard this year in the run-up to the examinations and have been rewarded with many outstanding successes. All students, teachers and support staff can be proud of their efforts.”
And at Ellesmere College, 83.5 per cent of students at Ellesmere College were awarded more than five A* to C grades.
Ludlow School recorded its best ever pass rate with 66 per cent of pupils gaining five or more A* to C grades - an increase of five per cent on last year.
Youngsters at Bedstone College, in Bucknell, achieved 8.5 per cent of all their grades at A* and more than 25 per cent of them at grades at either A* or A.
Students at William Brookes School, in Much Wenlock, recorded the second best set of results in the school’s history with 71 per cent gaining five or more passes at A* to C grades.
Lacon Childe School, in Cleobury Mortimer, achieved a pass rate of 69 per cent for students gaining five or more A* to C grades.
Pupils at Oldbury Wells School, in Bridgnorth, achieved a pass rate of 65 per cent - a figure which is expected to rise with results from some business studies and science papers still due to arrive because of a glitch in a computer system.
Youngsters at Bridgnorth Endowed School achieved a pass rate of 62 per cent for youngsters gaining five or more grades at A* to C.
Pupils across Powys also notched up record GCSE results today, reflecting the national picture of one in five exams awarded top grades.Gold standard results were achieved by students at Newtown High School. The school has been celebrating its golden jubilee this year.
Judith Pryce, headteacher, said: “This year the pupils and staff have achieved the best ever results for Key Stages 3, 4 and 5 and following record A-level results last week, pupils in Years 9, 10 and 11 have now achieved record GCSE results with more than 80 per cent of pupils achieving A* to C grades.”
She said the school’s results had improved by more than 65 per cent at A* to C over the past five years.
Among the high achievers this year were Kelly James who achieved 11A* and A grades despite sitting the exams a year early and Cassie Jones who gained an A* in French two years early.
Jim Toal, Welshpool High School headteacher, congratulated his students on “another superb year”.
“A total of 71 per cent of our students gained five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C which is significantly above usual county and national averages,” he said.
“We are also delighted 100 per cent of our students were able to leave with a recognised qualification.”
Outstanding individual performances included: Emily Judson, with 11 A*s; Bridget Randall-Smith, with 9 A*s and two As; and Victoria Ainscow with 8 A*s and four As.
David Evans, Caereinion High School headteacher, said staff were delighted with the school’s 83 per cent pass rate.
Ysgol Bro Ddfyi in Machynlleth were also celebrating today with Arwel Price, assistant headteacher, saying a “significant number of pupils” had gained 11 or 12 GCSEs. At Builth Wells High School, 72 per cent of pupils achieved an overall A* to C pass rate.
Llandrindod Wells High School achieved a 69 per cent success rate for pupils achieving five or more A*-C grades. At John Beddoes High School, in Presteigne, 68 per cent of pupils gained five or more A* to C grades.
Did YOU got your GCSE results today? Got a photo of you celebrating? Share it with us a internet@shropshirestar.co.uk, telling us who’s on the picture and how you did. If you don’t have a photo to send you can always let everyone know how you did in the Comment Box below!
40 Comments
What is the point of exams if everyone passes?
Y Mab Darogan - What a stupid statement! The purpose of an exam is to establish that the student has achieved a standard rather than a ranking against other students. This is education, not the olympics.
But if the standard is so low that everyone passes then what is the point of exams?
You make them harder so that only the very best get grades A-C maybe 20% of the country would get grades A-C then you would know who is cream of the crop.
Who said the standard is so low? When did you last take a GCSE?
good on them, they have done well, shame on the oldies who detract from the exams, because they are jelous
Y Mab Darogan and Steve what a fascinating argument…and what are u on about YMab Darogan exams are really hard we had to work hard toget what we achieved and id like to hear what you got in ur exams if you actually took any…or were they too hard for you? x
I took exams when they were a lot harder than GCSE’s.
If you go by the media students get marks for swearing on English GCSE papers so how hard can they be??
Exams are made easier to make it look like teachers are doing a good job, hence more students that pass the bigger a payrise the teachers get.
Its obvious what is happening when you take a moment to think about it.
Curlies, what grade did you get in English Language?
Curlies,
The fact that your contribution contains virtually no punctuation and is partly written in ‘text speak’ is evidence in itself of how standards have fallen.
Y Mab is correct in this case.
You may recall that a couple of years ago, Channel 4 took a group of 16 year old A* GCSE students, and subjected them to thr rigours of an ‘O’ level, circa 1955.
They were given an exam to do initially, which almost all of them failed. They were surprised by how hard it was - they really weren’t ready for these ‘O’ levels, they claimed. Imagine how much more surprised they were when they were told that the exam they had just undertaken was not an ‘O’ level, but the 11-plus!
And before anyone asks, I passed the 11-plus, ‘O’ levels, and proper ‘A’ levels! I’m sure there are capable young people who could do the same nowadays, but we’re letting them down by not putting them through more rigorous exams to separate the genuinely talented from those who are less so.
I agree with Y Mab.
If the standard of spelling reflects the intelligence of one’s posting, then it reflects poorly on those attacking his opinion.
Y Mab makes a perfectly valid comment. If everyone passes, then what use is the examination?
To say that people who took exams many years ago know nothing of how hard today’s exams are is foolish. We have eyes, we have ears, and we can see exactly what is happening. Unlike people currently taking exams, we also know how hard exams USED to be.
Steve asks “Who said the standard is so low?”
Almost everyone passed !!!!! If everyone passes then OF COURSE the standard is too low.
Brian acuses oldies of being ‘jelous’.
At least us ‘oldies’ can spell the word. We also know that sentences start with a capital letter. It is not jealousy Brian, when I see posts such as yours, it’s despair !
As for Curlies, your post sums up the whole awful situation. Young people who have been badly taught, who cannot write a sentence in plain English, and yet who have been indoctrinated with the belief that they are wonderful.
Unfortunately I have to interview these deluded youngsters for jobs, and disappoint the majority who are sadly unemployable for the positions which they have been led to believe they are capable of filling.
Brian, I assume you didn’t pass english then ?
Jealous is spelt like this
Current qualifications are a disgrace and prove nothing, the point is not everyone ought to pass, otherwise we’d all become doctors and then where would we be ?
It’a all political correctness and bears no relevance to actual life - I know someone who was tasked with mentoring an electronics graduate - they had never used a soldering iron !?!
Curlies!
If I were you I’d go back to my teachers and ask for my money back. After many years in school and thousands of pounds of your parents’ and other taxpayers’ money you are unable to communicate coherently - in your own language.
You will certainly have difficulty finding a well paid job or enter a college unless you improve your language skills.
Find a tutor, who will teach you how to spell, when and when not to use an apostrophe, how to form a sentence etc. You will then be able to make a reasonable argument and people like me will take time to listen to what you have to say.
Send the tutor’s bill to the school which, so obviously, did a terrible job of educating you.
GCSEs are not qualifications. Indeed, they are totally worthless. From personal experience, young adults today cannot write, talk, listen, understand, do basic arithmetic, spell or punctuate. They do not know where anywhere is, who anybody is or what has happened in the past. This might read like a gross exaggeration but you know I’m right.
must be easy if the thicko kids of today can pass at all, stupid young people should be caned not rewarded, i could probably get 12 a stars if i took it tommorrow and i dont use txt spk when I compose letters etc,
. St. John Peasbody said:
“GCSEs are not qualifications.” If they aren’t qualifications then what are they??? In my experience, a prospective employer won’t even consider someone for interview stage unless they can see they have received a good standard of education; after all, they want someone who is prepared to work hard and give commitment to the job; if someone has good exam results the employer can see they have worked hard to get them. I say well done to the young people who did well with their GSCE’s (I think some of the comments on this topic are from jealous people who wish they had done better themselves!)
Ali
I would love to know what this ‘experience’ is that you have. Do please explain how an employer is supposed to judge the standard of education a young person has received when presented with 500 candidates who have all passed their GCSEs.
The situation is made even worse by the fact the schools are using many different examination boards in an effort to find the ‘easiest’ route for their students. My son has just passed all 11 of his GCSEs, and returned home with certificates from 6 different boards. The one does not even use the A, B, C system, he has a ‘Merit’ from that one, which he assures me is equivalent to an A.
As a parent I find the whole system ridiculously confusing. As an employer I find it totally impossible to judge adequately the capabilities of a prospective employee from GCSE results. I interview people with A grades in Maths and English, and find they can neither spell nor add up.
(I think some of the comments on this topic are from teachers who have a vested interest in keeping the false hype going over exam results to cover the fact they are failing our students with their poor teaching methods!)
Cara, congratulations on gaining fantastic GCSEs grades.
We wonder why children have no respect, with all these comments about how easy the exams are now. We shou;d be praising them , its not just exams they have to complete lots of coursework as well. Its continual tests and put downs. Congratulations to all that passed and well done to the children of The Grange School Shrewsbury for showing thats its not a failing school and good luck to children starting year 11 in September.
i took o levels back in the 80’s. i passed 2. i went on to college and really studied and managed to pass 4 more. two years i went back to night school to do a gcse and with no effort i got an A*. i makes you think….
good on em
And there lies a possible issue with the current system Karen; coursework now makes up a large percentage of the overall grade for some (maybe most) subjects. I have spoken to teachers on this subject and find the opinions given quite alarming, in the current climate of league tables and the threat of closure for ‘under performing’ schools, are we sure the students are doing the work? One (ex) teacher friend of mine was adamant that in some cases the work was greatly influenced by the teachers themselves in order to ensure a high pass rate, thereby avoiding being questioned by management to explain why students are failing, thus making the school look bad! (how many parents also do more than help students with assignments?)
I work in education, though not in schools, and I am constantly having problems with plagiarism. For all its positive points, I feel the Internet has a lot to answer for as this enormous resource surely makes the completion of assignments and coursework an awful lot simpler than pre-internet education. From personal experience this generation of students risk being dubbed the ‘cut and paste’ generation.
This is of course a generalisation, and some students undoubtedly carry out the work themselves and pass exams with high marks, thereby deserving A grades.
A former chief inspectors of schools hit the nail on the head when he claimed that the central weakness of the current system is that not enough people fail at each stage and as a result success has become less meaningful.
amanda - Well done to you on continuing with your education, and yes it does make you think. You above anyone can say how current GCSEs compare with those taken 20 years ago.
karen - the lack of respect shown by children today is more down to people like yourself constantly making excuses for their behaviour, than it is to people on a forum having an intelligent discussion on how modern examinations have been dumbed down.
Excuse me!!!! We got A*s and that is way above the average of todays younsters who spend all their time binge drinking and throwing their lives away we’ve aimed high and got our grades..18 A grades and 3 A stars between the two of us..GCSE’s are not easier it’s just you oldies are too stubborn to admit the younger generations are much cleverer than yours and teaching has improved. Not only that but now we have TECHNOLOGY, it’s this amazing thing that can help to improve our knowledge and understanding of different subjects.
We are not saying that you are thick but we have more to learn because of the improvement of ICT and not only that but we have taken some of our A levels early and have worked hard for them too!
I don’t know why you are all arguing about it not all of our generation are like the airheads you see plastered all over the news at the moment, some of us do want to do well and have done well and we deserved it!
And Tony Lewis we are in college and hoping to go onto university so please get your facts right before shouting the odds about something you know nothing about. And Peter the fact that we can write in both “Text language” and proper English is not a bad thing it just shows how communication has developed and is actually a very interesting topic rather than something to be frowned upon.
You all really should give our generation a break because when you are all old and can’t fend for your selves it will be us who you will be asking for help, and we will be the ones trying to save the planet you have ruined with the incresed CO2 emmissions.
x x x x x x x x (for the people who deserve it)
Tony Lewis
I find you very immature and patronising, you may give your point of view, but you may not bully someone. Act your age all of you.
All
Seriously, why have you got a proplem with the Curlies, they are just saying what they feel and speaking not arguing and using horrid words, they did not offend you in any way and i feel you have to them.
I think that most children do try hard in exams and for the people who don’t that is there option not to, but you can not count one person for all and say it is easy because its not.
You can not blame there knoladge on things they havn’t been taught it is not teh childs fault at all.
You have taken tis to a new level,
I am sorry if i have made any typing mistakes
and before it comes i got an A* in my english lit thank you.
Thankyou Karen…We are so proud of our results and we have these weird men shouting at us for it…what has the world come to when people are being discriminated for doing so well??
It’s about time we were congratulated for something good that has happened to our generation especially after all the suicides and murders that have occurred during the past few months.
THANKYOU KAREN your the only one who has defended us!!
x x x x x x x x
Roger if you think you could pass, well you wouldn’t go aboved a C this is because you should use a capital letter at the beginging of a sentence.
I took my GCSE’s 6 years ago and challenge anyone who thinks they are getting easier to take a look at the content on a higher maths paper(the paper taken by most A-B students). Having looked at O level papers it seems to me that the standard is about the same. The reason results are continually improving is the introduction of more coursework based assessments. Students can re-do coursework to get it up to the required standard, which I agree, makes gaining passes easier. But if pupils leave school with the knowledge they need, what does it matter if they learned through coursework or exam revision?
Some people, usually of the older generation, fail to realise that skills such as spelling and grammar are simply not important today. Sixteen year olds have grown up with modern technology at their finger tips so have never needed to spell without the help of a computer, and probably never will.
To sum up, just because young people may have a different set of skills to the older generation, it doesn’t make them any less valuable. What is the use of having outstanding spelling skills in the real world? Any computer could still more than equal that skill and would probably take a fraction of the time.
Alice22
You challenge anyone who thinks they are getting easier, then in the very same paragraph you ‘agree’ that gaining passes is easier because students can re-do coursework. Brilliant !!!!
You then continue by asking what it matters if they learn through coursework or exam revision. Can you really not understand that students can present coursework over a two year period without actually LEARNING what they are submitting, wheras when GCSEs were obtained purely through final examination performance, students had to LEARN the subject.
Is that really too difficult for you to understand?
As for your final question on spelling, you need look no further than some of the posts here on Shropshire Star’s forums. I have seen more than a few which are completely unintelligable because the contributor is incapable of spelling or constructing sentences. It is a terrible shame in this day and age if people are unable to communicate effectively through lack of education. No amount of spell-checkers can compensate.
If the standards are set low then i personally feel sorry for the students that are still failing. At best the pass rate is only 80% so GCSE’s can’t be that easy.
I am proud of my high results as i understand that many did not do as well.
Although i realise that with coursework and termly exams as opposed to annual exams it may seem like they are easier, but i found the masses of coursework to be the most difficult. I respectfully disagree with those who choose to argue that the education system is falling and that the exams are to hard as i feel i worked exceptionally hard to achieve my good grades.
I would also like to add that you shouldn’t generalise todays youth as ‘binge drinking thicko’s’ as we are not all like that and our good grades show that.
Finally I would like to asked that if you all did so well in your ‘hard’ o levels ‘that really mean something’ then how on earth do you have the time to argue with 16 year olds online and call them stupid for getting A*’s?
” ruined with the incresed CO2 emmissions”
Well I think this forum has proved that GCSE students cannot spell.
Jelous am I???
or should that be jealous
Nat
No one on here is criticising young people who have worked hard and achieved good results. My personal opinion is that an 80% pass rate is too easy, that young people believe it is hard is merely a reflection on the modern education system.
Neither has anyone generalised about our current young people, and indeed the only mention of binge drinking has come from one of your fellow students!
I am pleased for you that you have achieved high results, I am sure everyone on here will be most interested in your contribution, it is very enlightening for us all to see the standard of composition, grammar and spelling that an A* pupil is capable of.
Clearly your reading ability is also exceptional, do please tell me where someone has called pupils who get A*s stupid, I don’t appear to be able to find it.
Finally, the whole point of these forums is for discussion and argument. Are you thinking that adults should not have time for such intellectual challenges, or is it that, at 16, you are not used to adults disagreeing with your point of view?
Y mab darogan get a life and stop trying to pick up on every little mistake we make everyone makes mistakes when they type quickly, you clearly have nothing better to say and can’t argue against our points made because they are TRUE.
Please stop being pathetic and be a man!
Curlies,
I note, with some dismay, that your later posts are still poorly punctuated.
You are also quite wrong to assume that those of us older than you have no knowledge of technology - I’ve a 20-plus year career in the IT industry to look back on. I’d wager I know a lot more about technology than you do.
Sharron, the fact that you got an ‘A*’ in English literature says little for your English language skills, and much for the lower standards of today - how can you fail to refer to yourself as ‘I’ rather than ‘i’ and claim a good knowledge of English?
I don’t doubt that some of the young people of today could match the academic abilities of their forbears - the problem is that we have a system that leads almost all of those who go in for these exams to believe they are brilliant scholars, when plainly they are not.
Peter
We note, with some dismay, that you have no idea what you are talking about.
All the press you hear about GCSE’s is always very good but you never hear about the students who are underachieving and we are sure that if the real facts and figures came out you would be very surprised. Many students who go to other schools get D’s E’s and F’s and find it amusing, but they are proud of what they get, surely this tells you something?
Fortunately we have gone to a very respecful school where we have morals and are always encouraged to do well and we find it very undermining when people like you feel the need to patronise us and try and make us feel bad about the results we get, we worked hard for them and deserved them. So please give things a rest, your like a broken record, same old things, it’s getting a bit boring now.
x
Nat and Curlies,
Your dismissal of legitimate critique and engaged citizenry fails to in any way advance discussion about the aims and purpose of public education -which is the main focus of this debate.
You seem ubable to interpret the well written and indeed well meaning posts of other writers sadly reverting to an ad hominem argument - thus aborting meaningful dialogue.
Calling us “oldies” (presumably people stuck in outmoded, primitive thinking) allows young people such as yourselves to hide your heads in the sand. Thus missing out on all our experience and advice which could be so valuable to your careers and future.
I understand it is difficult for young people to see much beyond the limits of their own narrow environs. Move beyond these confines - and start by learning your own mother tongue - English!
We can speak several languages including French Greek, German and English! So stick that in your fat old pipe and smoke it!!!!
Now seriously leave us out of this now!!!
Bye!!!!! x
Curlies blames increased C02 emissions on my generation, but if you take the time to study history the opposite might well be true.
When my sister started school in 1936 she entered a school that had no electricity, very little heating, no library full of beautiful books. There were shortages of everything - pens, ink, paper etc. Classrooms housed at least 45 students and the school day lasted longer - 9am - 4pm even for 5 year old infants.
Not even the teachers could afford cars and like the students either rode bicycles or walked to school.
When the war arrived conditions got even worse;
air-raid shelters had to be built, sacking had to be stuck to windows. Food was rationed, clothes were rationed and even the water supply seemed to be rationed as often there was no water at all in the taps.
Students were expected to work one afternoon per week in the school garden and every Autumn we spent several weeks working at local farms potato picking etc.
Schools all over Britain were bombed and thousands of school children were killed or maimed. Shropshire took in many evacuee children from the big cities - and the schools became more and more cramped. Children suffered from chilblains because of lack of clothing and almost no heating in the schools. Ringworm was common - we came from homes that had no hot water or washing machines and most of our dads were away in the war.
These hardships lasted long after the war and we continued to operate a school garden and go potato picking into the early ’50s.
There was no chance for working class kids to continue school after the age of 15 or 16 - even though some of us had A levels in subjects such as Latin and Greek.
In order to further my education after leaving school I had to go to night school. After working well over 40 hours a week at a factory I would spend 12 hours at school - even bicycling the 30 miles to Art school in Wolverhampton. How many of you ride your bikes even 5 miles to school each day Curlies?
So there you go Curlies - my education had a far smaller carbon footprint than yours. I sure hope you ride your bike or walk to school each day!
Have you people nothing else to do?
Quote: …So please give things a rest, your like a broken record, same old things, it’s getting a bit boring now…’
If you were as well-educated as you claim, you would be capable of understanding the difference between the possessive “your” and “you’re”, the shortened form of “You are”.
I think the case for the prosecution rests…
I was hoping for an eloquent rebuttal from at least one of the A level students on this forum who would put us (oldies) in our places…. and explain that the public education system is doing its job….after all!
Sadly there has been no argument or dialogue on the subject and one has to come to the sad conclusion that the public education system in Great Britain (and likely elsewhere) is in need of overhaul.
Critical thought can only be expressed if one has an excellent grasp of language - and this is rather an obvious failing in your (Britain’s) public system.
Curlies mentions that he speaks other languages including Greek and German. I also speak these languages but only after many years of living in those countries.
Maybe Curlies….could share what method of teaching languages is being used in the schools of Great Britain today. Very, very different to my school days no doubt. So please share with us your experiences - we have a very genuine interest.
And ???. I you don’t want to join in this debate that is of course up to you - so please let others debate important issues of our time and, quite simply, take your negative comments to some other forum.