Jubilation as students score A-levels record

Aug 17 2007 by Liza Williams, Liverpool Daily Post

Liza Williams reports that indications are showing grades across most of the region’s schools continued to rise

STUDENTS were last night celebrating higher A-level marks than ever across Merseyside, according to provisional figures released last night.

Early indications show A-level grades across most of the region’s schools continued to rise, as nationally the pass rate increased for the 25th year in a row.

Many will be sending pupils to Oxbridge this September, including six from Liverpool’s Blue Coat school, five from Birkenhead High and six from Merchant Taylors’ Girls school.

Candidates across Wirral saw a 32.3 point rise in the average points score used for UCAS university applications, from 729 in 2006 to 762 this year, and Sefton said early figures also showed improvement.

Liverpool said it had not received enough information to gauge performance yet but in Knowsley provisional results showed 96.7 % of students from across the borough gained A-level passes, up 0.2% on last year.

Cllr Graham Wright, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services in Knowsley, said: “Congratulations to all our students on another set of excellent results.

“Behind the figures lie months of hard work and many individual success stories.

“I wish the young people the very best for the future as they move on to further education, training or employment”.

Wirral’s Director of Children’s Services, Howard Cooper, was also pleased. “It is particularly encouraging to note that an increasing number of our youngsters are staying on at school to improve their chances of a better career and life. I wish all of them the best of luck,” he said.

In Warrington, early results from schools and colleges suggested performance was better than ever, with an estimated 70% of pupils achieving grades A to C.

So far last night St Helens was the only of the region’s boroughs where the average pass rate dropped slightly this year to 96.5%, with over 50% of students achieving A to C marks.

Susan Richardson, director of Children and Young People’s Services for St Helens, said: “We are disappointed to note a slight dip overall in the average pass rate in schools from last year, and will be looking hard with schools to ascertain and understand the reasons for this.

“However, in general we have some really good individual results to celebrate in each school and we are proud of the young people who have worked so hard to achieve these”.

In Cheshire, early figures showed students achieved an average points score of 675.8 – a rise on the 617.8 recorded on results day last year.

This represents an average increase of 2 A-level grades per candidate.

The picture in Liverpool was unclear last night but Cllr Paul Clein, the city council's executive member for children's services, was positive.

He said: “I would like to thank all the students and teachers who have put in so much effort this year. I know how hard they have worked and they should be extremely proud of themselves.

“There were more A-level entries than ever before in Liverpool this year, reflecting the huge effort that is going into developing a first class education service for everyone.

“Thousands of young people in the city can now look forward to bright futures with many new doors opening for them”.

According to data published by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), the percentage of candidates nationally attaining A level grades A-E increased by 0.3 percentage points from 96.6% to 96.9%.

Girls continue to outperform boys at grades A-E in every major A level subject, apart from modern foreign languages and further mathematics.

For the first time, more than 25% of exam entries were awarded A-grades, while one in 10 students scored straight As.

But a gap between private and state school achievement is widening. Since the Curriculum 2000 changes to A levels, the proportion of entries from independent schools awarded an A has increased by more than six percentage points and in state grammar schools it is almost as high.

This was double the improvement in the majority of state schools and colleges, according to the JCQ.

But David Cumberland, director of secondary teacher training at Liverpool Hope University, said: “It is not just independent schools which are seeing a big improvement in grades, it is also grammar schools and this is what you would expect as they select the cream of the crop. They are bound to see a bigger improvement.

“State schools are still seeing a rise in grades and I think it is down to improvements in teaching.

“Things have changed and that is no bad thing”.

The rising pass rate prompted the Liberal Democrats to renew call for an independent review of the “gold standard”.

Last night a Merseyside hotel manager said he believed school leavers were not prepared for the rigours of the workplace.

Manager at Wirral-based Thornton Hall Hotel Geoff Dale said despite A to C grades increasing in recent years many school leavers remain unprepared. He said: “We interview hundreds of school leavers each year and many of them fall down on their softer skills and lack of practical work experience”.

But Mr Cumberland added: “A levels have not become easier, they have changed. What is wrong with giving someone who has failed a module another chance to pass it?

The Government will be introducing the new A* grade in 2010.

But the AQA board’s Dr Cresswell said it was possible that a new A** could eventually be required as more pupils get the A*, although this would be “a long way” away.

Alan Smithers, Professor of Education at the University of Buckingham, described the idea of a possible A** as “just plain daft”.

“An A** would be an admission of failure,” he said.

lizawilliams@dailypost.co.uk