Published: Friday, 22nd August, 2008 12:00
Brainy pupils on the up
By Annabel Williams
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GCSE results are out and schools in the Reading and Wokingham boroughs schools have put in their best ever performances.
Averages are up on figures out this time last year, and there was promising success at two schools named as failures by the Government.
In the Reading borough, the average number of youngsters scooping five or more A*-C passes has risen from 45% in 2005, 58% last year to 61%. The national average was 65.7%.
And the amount of youngsters getting five or more good passes including English and maths also rose from 47% last year to 51%.
Some 30.6% of all the borough’s grades were As or A*s, almost half as many again as is the case nationally, 20.7%.
And 70.2% of all grades were A*-C, also above the national average of 65.5%.
Blessed Hugh Faringdon Catholic School in Southcote was named as one of more than 600 schools being below a Government benchmark.
The target said schools must get at least 30% of pupils achieving five or more A*-C grades including English and maths by 2011 or face being turned into an academy.
But the Fawley Road secondary reached the target in 2007 and exceeded it in 2006.
This year, half of Blessed High Faringdon youngsters achieved five or more A*-C GCSEs, and 100% got at least one A-G grade.
Headteacher Paul Barras said: “Last year the school was named in a list of 600 schools by the Department of Education with a 30% or below pass rate in A* to C grades at GCSE.
“It was quite a shock at the time, but the school is no longer under threat.
“We are delighted to prove our worth and are very optimistic that we can build on our success. We fell back, but now we are on our way back up again.”
At the John Madejski Academy, principal Catherine Shaw was hopping with excitement over her school’s leap towards the 30% benchmark.
Last year, only 7% of youngsters at the Hartland Road academy achieved five or more A*-C grades including English and maths. This year, 25% did so.
And 40% of youngsters achieved five or more qualifications, up from 30% last year.
Ms Shaw said: “These are a really superb set of results.
“They’re a credit to the students and the staff who have all worked so hard.
“We are still dealing with children with quite a range of different needs so these results are quite remarkable, I think that’s something people out there don’t really understand.
“But this shows the children of Whitley can achieve.
“Our children want to do it, this is the proof it.”
Wokingham Borough pupils found out they have achieved the best set of GCSE results the borough has ever seen, with an improvement in the five or more top passes of almost 5% to 71.3%, almost 6% above the national average.
Also improving by more than 4%, to 61.9%, was the number of pupils achieving five or more A*-C including English and maths, compared with 57.6% last year.
Some 99.6% of the borough’s pupils got one or more GCSE pass, compared with 98.5 per cent last year.
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