Top school ‘at bottom of pile’
Jan 10 2008 by Graeme Whitfield, The Journal
ONE of the region’s private schools has come bottom in the North-East league tables – and the headteacher is “delighted”.
The Royal Grammar School in Newcastle has only 6% of its pupils reaching the Government target of getting at least five good GCSEs that include English or maths – though only because it puts almost all of its students into the harder international GCSE maths exam instead.
Across the region, the league tables show more than half of GCSE students are failing to reach that standard, but RGS headteacher James Miller has dismissed the tables as “pretty meaningless”.
He said: “At Key Stage Four, the Government’s preferred measure is five or more grades at A* - C, including English and maths. On this measure, I am delighted to say, the RGS comes firmly bottom of the North-East. Only 6% of our students met the criterion. Why? All except the eight boys in our lowest set did the international GCSE in maths, rather than the ordinary GCSE, and the Government, in its wisdom, chooses not to recognise the international GCSE, more demanding though it may be than the ordinary GCSE.”
Durham High School for Girls came top in the region’s GCSE tables, with Dame Allan’s Girls School in Newcastle getting the best A-level results. Emmanuel College in Gateshead was the best State school in GCSEs, with Queen Elizabeth High School in Hexham best at A-levels.
There were also 10 North-East schools in the country’s 200 most improved schools, led by Haydon Bridge High School in Northumberland, while Kenton School in Newcastle was judged one of the best “value added” in the country – the measure of how much schools improve their children.
But although Sunderland maintained its place in top 10 LEAs in the country for A-levels, the region mostly fares badly.
There are no areas of the North-East in the top 50 LEAs for GCSEs, with North Tyneside top at 58th, followed by Northumberland and Gateshead. No LEA in the North-East managed to get more than half of children reaching the target of five good GCSEs including English and maths.
At A-level, Sunderland was easily the highest performing LEA in the North, followed by Northumberland and North Tyneside. David Ford, acting director of children and young people’s services at Durham County Council, said: “We’ve seen a consistent improvement, above the national average rate, in GCSE results in County Durham over the last five years and I’m delighted that the upward trend is continuing.”
David Clegg, head of education for Newcastle City Council, said: “Although our results remain below the national average at GCSE, this year’s undeniably show we are narrowing that gap all the time and that our results are improving at a significantly faster rate to the rest of the country – and we have the initiatives in place to continue these improvements and make sure that all young people in our city can enjoy the best opportunities.”
