22/08/13 Dip in GSCE results ‘in turbulent times’

STAFF and parents of Lord Williams’s GCSE students were congratulating them on their achievements this morning and acknowledging the hard work that had produced many pleasing results. However, there was a dip in results this year, with 55% of students achieving five or more GCSE passes at A*-C grades, including English and Mathematics. Last year’s figure was 75%.

Headteacher, David Wybron, commented: “I want to acknowledge the wide range of achievements of our students. We are in very turbulent times in terms of examination results and year on year we are dealing with puzzling results. The dip in results is not a surprise, however unwelcome, because we were aware of late changes in grade boundaries in some subjects which mean that some students have been awarded lower grades than their marks would have earned them last year. 

“In one core subject the pass mark for a C grade has moved by 6½% on last year. We will know more once we receive the results of remarks.”

The following students gained at least seven passes at grade A* or A (eight less than last year):

Elijah Andrews, Jimmy Austin, Ruairi Baker, Jessica Baldwin, Jasmine Bernard, Olly Bevan, Rebecca Brightling, Alyssa Brown, Lina Budde-Manning, Ella Burgess, Jess Burman, Conor Champion, Laura Cooper-Smith, Rebecca Daly, Daniel Hambly, Dominic Kelsey, Emily Keogh, Josie King, Miriam Malein, Charlotte Mann, Michelle Poalses, Emma Ralphs, Josie Richards, Charlotte Rogers, Eleanor Shearwood, Ewan Sheen, Hannah Smith, Mary Walters, Brendan Ward, Benjamin Warwick, James Wooster.

THE NATIONAL PICTURE (from Sky News)

The proportion of GCSEs awarded at least a C grade has suffered its biggest fall in the exam’s 25-year history.

For the second year in a row, the number of pupils given an A*-C grade has dropped – down 1.3% on last year to 68.1%.

The number of A* grades awarded was also lower, falling 0.5% on last year from 7.3 to 6.8%, according to official figures.

The figures show that the overall A*-G pass rate also fell slightly this year, to 98.8% compared to 99% last year.

In contrast to last week’s A-level results, girls are still outperforming boys at GCSE and achieved better results at A*-C across every subject.