GCSE stats show students getting better all the time across Northampton
GCSE results Thomas Becket Catholic School, Becket Way, Kettering Road. All pupils pictured got a least 5 A* and A grades.
GCSE results significantly improved last year at some of the traditionally lower-performing secondary schools in Northampton, official data has shown.
According to statistics released by the Department of Education today, only one school in the town is now below the Government’s floor target of at least 35 per cent of pupils gaining five A* to C grades or more, including English and maths.
One of the biggest improvements was made by Northampton Academy which increased the amount of pupils hitting the Government benchmark from 35 per cent to 47 per cent, the best in the school’s history.
Anne Hill, principal of Northampton Academy, said: “We are very pleased with this year’s GCSE results which are our best ever and show that solid and consistent progress is being made across the academy. Our strong maths and English scores are a clear sign that we are getting the basics right.
“We were delighted that so many of our students decided to stay on at the academy to take advantage of all the opportunities our flourishing sixth form has to offer.”
The biggest improvement of any school in our area was Sponne School, in Towcester, where 80 per cent of year 11 pupils achieved five A* to C grades, including English and maths, a 20 per cent rise on the previous year.
Deputy headteacher Iain Massey said: “We were tremendously proud of the results our students achieved as they did even better than they were predicted.
“The results were down to good teaching and well-motivated students learning. The students worked really hard and fully deserved the results they got.”
Other schools which performed well included Weston Favell School, which in its last set of results before it became an academy, increased the number of students achieving the Government benchmark from 27 per cent to 37 per cent.
Improvements were also seen at Kingsthorpe College, which increased the number of students achieving five A* to C grades from 39 per cent to 45 per cent, and Thomas Becket Catholic School, which saw an increase from 37 per cent to 43 per cent.
The Duston School and the former Roade School Sports College both consolidated their large increases seen between results in 2009 and 2010, with both schools maintaining their level of students hitting the Government benchmark at 45 per cent and 51 per cent, respectively.
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Comments
There are 6 comments to this article
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Can you believe it
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 12:43 PMAll students are getting better and Amos sums up the farce called "improving educational standards " very well. Heard that the school above with the biggest improvements has entered students so often for exams after starting their GCSE courses in year 9 that the increase should not be that surprising. An increase of that magnitude normally means that they have found an easier exam board to enter.
amos
Friday, January 27, 2012 at 06:01 PMI employ young people. They arrive with more qualifications and less ability as time goes on. At school they get rewarded more for achieving less.
lady muck
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 04:18 PMThe girls are getting prettier but GCSE's are getting easier.
willi eckaslyke
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 03:25 PMThat'll be down to those kung fu punctuation lessons - the examiners can now understand the answers to their exam questions.
executioners_bong
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 10:40 AMPending Moderation
Common sense
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 10:34 AMGood news --but how are our schools doing by comparision even to our neighbouring Local education Authorities--how will our children fair when the have to compete for jobs and university places.? Can the Chron not ask for or research these fairly basic tools of judgement. Perhaps NCC has too much influence which sweeps objectivity under the carpet?
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