Students come out top in league table compared to rest of country
North Somerset pupils score high on the league tables. - Credit: Archant
Students in North Somerset are outperforming their peers across England in their GCSE exams.
Last year 58.8 per cent of pupils in the district left school with five or more A*-C grades, including maths and English, compared to the rest of England where 53.8 per cent hit the target.
Backwell School and Gordano School, in Portishead, came joint top in the Times patch with 74 per cent of pupils achieving five or more A*-C grades.
Julian Baldwin, headteacher at Backwell School, said: “We are delighted that the Department for Education figures confirm just how well our students did in their GCSE exams last summer.
“The students and their teachers all worked really hard throughout their time at Backwell School, not just in the months leading up to their exams, to ensure they achieved their very best.
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“Their success is well deserved and will open so many doors to the future for them.”
At Nailsea and Clevedon schools, 58 per cent of pupils achieved A*-C grades, slightly less than the average for North Somerset but more than five percentage points higher than the rest of England.
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In 2013, Nailsea was ranked 10th in North Somerset with 49 per cent of students achieving five GCSE A*-C grades including maths and English.
Its results have improved for two consecutive years and the school is now ranked sixth in the district.
Headteacher Chris Wade said: “It is pleasing to see Nailsea making positive progress, however we recognise that there is still more to be done to ensure all students receive the best possible outcomes.
“While GCSE results are an important measure, it never gives a full picture of how much progress a school makes with each student.
“At Nailsea School we place significant emphasis on making better-than-expected progress and have been very successful in delivering outcomes that are greater than other schools both locally and nationally, especially in English and maths.”
This summer the Government is changing the way it reports results, using a new measure called Progress 8, which will take an aggregate of each student’s best eight results compared to targets and a score for the school will be produced. It is widely felt that this is a much fairer way of comparing schools.
