Merseyside schools celebrate best-ever exam grades

Aug 24 2007 by Jessica Shaughnessy, Liverpool Daily Post

The number of Merseyside pupils gaining top grades in their GCSEs has shown a dramatic rise. Jessica Shaughnessy reports

PUPILS, parents and teachers were last night celebrating another set of improved GCSE results with success stories emerging across the region.

In Liverpool, 61% of students achieved five or more A*-C grades – a 5.5% increase on last year, although the authority is still chasing the national average by 2%.

Wirral also saw a dramatic rise of 4.5% and Cheshire achieved a record 64.2% of pupils gaining good grades.

Halton and St Helens both recorded their best ever set of GCSE results with 10% and 5% increases on last year, compared to a rise in the national average of just 0.9%.

Last night, Knowsley, Sefton and Warrington councils had not prepared their results but all three authorities expected to report increases.

In Liverpool, West Derby Comprehensive school surpassed all expectations with 59% of pupils achieved A*-C grades – up 24 per cent on last year, and Childwall Comprehensive also saw a dramatic 14% increase.

Executive member for childrens services Cllr Paul Clein said: “Liverpool continues to make excellent progress and once again the city’s GCSE results have improved.

“The improvement in exam results is the result of the huge amount of money being invested in education.

“ I absolutely do not believe standards have dropped. Instead, it’s better quality teaching, facilities and resources which is leading to improved performance. I am fed up of people denigrating the achievements of our young people by claiming results are improving year-on-year because exams are getting easier.”

As the annual debate on the difficulty of modern exams resurfaced, youngsters ignored the critics and celebrated their individual achievements.

Liverpool College pupil Sarah Hussey said she was amazed when she opened her results and found she was in the top five nationally for Spanish.

Sarah, from Garston, who scooped seven A* grades, said: “I expected to do well, but not that well. I was really pleased. I worked really hard.” More than 600,000 students across England, Wales and Northern Ireland picked up their results yesterday.

Nationally, the proportion of entries getting grades of A* to C rose from 62.4% to 63.3%, while 19.5% got an A or A*.

The gap between boys and girls continues to narrow. Science entries rose, but French and German fell for another year.

But more and more students are taking Spanish and other modern languages as a whole – these include Chinese, Arabic and Polish – are up 5.5 percentage points.

Deputy headteacher at Calday Grammar School in Wirral Mike Skelly said the school’s increasing focus on modern languages had paid off.

He said: “Calday has recently become the Confucius Classroom for the Northwest. We are particularly delighted with our results in Mandarin Chinese. We had twelve students pass GCSE Mandarin Chinese and six of these students were graded A*.

“In addition, one Year 9 student obtained an A* in Spanish.”

Also in Wirral, Park High school in Birkenhead saw a massive 50% increase in A*-C grade passes.

Headteacher Steve McMahon singled out highflyers Nina Mareno, who achieved 10 A*s and two As, and Helen Beddow, who gained six A*s and four As for praise.

The school was recently awarded specialist status and has seen a £10m investment, but Mr McMahon put the dramatic increase in grades largely down to the hard work of pupils and staff.

He said: “One student, who did particularly well, summed it up when she opened her results.

She said ‘it just goes to show, you don't need to go to a private school to get good results’.

“Our pass rates do not read as well as the selection schools in Wirral but our results and improvement is phenomenal.”

GCSE exam results will have improved in Knowsley for the ninth year running, the borough predicted last night with expectations children will have exceeded last years figure of 47%.

The highest performing school in the borough was Brookfield in Kirkby with 67.9 per cent of pupils obtaining five or more A*-C passes.

Higher Side school in Whiston was the most improved in the borough, with an increase of 19 percentage points since last year.

Cllr Graham Wright, Knowsley’s cabinet member for children’s services said: “I offer my congratulations to all those who have worked hard and done so well.

“The future looks bright for these individuals and, with the coming of the new learning centres, for those pupils who will be sitting their GCSEs in years to come.”

In Warrington, a rise on last year’s 66% is also expected. The authority is currently ranked 12th out of 149.

Cheshire County Council now boasts the impressive achievement of 30% or more of pupils gaining good grades.

Executive member for children’s services David Rowlands said: “Each year it becomes harder to improve on previous high levels of achievement, yet I am delighted to say that Cheshire has managed to do just that.”

Jim Sinclair, Director of the Joint Council for Qualifications – the umbrella group for all the main examination boards in the country – said: “The improvement in the GCSE results this year is testament both of effective teaching and the dedication and hard work of students.

“There are positive signs overall, with increased entries in mathematics and science, and the performance in all subject areas improving.”

jessicashaughnessy

Lookalike results for a duo of successful Belvedere twins

TWO sets of identical twins proved they don’t just look alike – they also think alike, by gaining top marks in their GCSEs.

Belvedere School pupils Naomi and Elly Gaynor, from Aigburth, and Hannah and Ashlea Rowson, from Old Swan, achieved 32 A/A*s and 38 GCSEs between them.

Naomi, who gained four A*s, four As and a B with her sister netting five A*s and four As, said: “One of the advantages of being a twin is we can help each other revise as we are at the same level.”

The sisters plan to stay on at Belvedere to study for their A-Levels next year. Their classmates Ashlea and Hannah also scored top marks, including two A*s each.

Ashlea also gained six As and a C, while Hannah achieved three As, three Bs and a C. All four girls achieved an A in a shortcourse in IT, which is the equivalent to half a GCSE.

Ashlea said: “We are going to celebrate our results by painting and decorating an old car for a rally event in Wales.”

Twin Hannah added: “The whole family are going to the rally and we are going to stay in a hotel for a long weekend.

“When we told our mum our results she cried tears of joy and our little sister was dead excited.” The sisters both gained A*s in Art and textile technology.

Teacher Sue Freeman said: “Hannah and Ashlea are able technologists and each encouraged the other to work to the highest standard throughout the course, both in school and at home. These excellent results are richly deserved. Well done to them both”.

The Rowson twins also intend to stay on at Belvedere next year. Ashlea will study Sociology, RS, Art and English Language and would like to go to university to do Child Psychology. Hannah plans to take Biology, Art Sociology and RS and wants to study Clinical Psychology.

Girls reach for the stars to land extra pass – on top of their 10 GCSEs

A TRIO of academic stars were over the moon after each picking up A*s in astronomy.

The girls studied the moon and solar system in the evenings on top of their “official” 10 GCSEs. The only assistance they received was an hour of tuition every other week.

Jennifer Atcheson, 16, Gayathri Kumar, 16, and Lydia Wild, 16, all attend Merchant Taylors’ Girls’ school in Crosby, Merseyside, and said that thwty were delighted with their result.

Jennifer, from Little Crosby, said: “I wanted to study astronomy but it was only available as an extra – on top of my other options.

“I knew it would be hard work but it is an interesting subject so it wasn’t too difficult.”

Gayathri, from Ormskirk, added: “We studied the moon and stars and spent a lot of time gazing through telescopes.

“So much of what I learned has helped me understand other subjects, which is why I think I did okay with all my other GCSEs.”

Head of physics Janet Custard said: “It’s the second year we have offered astronomy and we feel it is a subject that stretches our gifted and talented girls.

“The standard of work was out of this world, both literally and metaphorically, and showed tremendous commitment to rigorous academic study.

“All three girls are real stars.”

Headteachers delighted as high-fliers produce top grades

BIRKENHEAD SCHOOL FOR BOYS

A THIRD of candidates achieved A* or A grades in at least seven subjects, with seven students achieving A* or A grades in all 10 of their subjects.Š

Headmaster John Clark said his students had all equalled or exceeded expectations.

Among the high fliers yesterday was Thomas Walker, from Heswall, who gained nine A* grades and one grade A.

BIRKENHEAD HIGH

MORE than 55% of GCSE students secured A* or A grade passes in this year’s GCSE examination results.

Overall, 25% of all passes were at A* with a 96% pass rate. Thirteen pupils secured straight A* or As. Pupil Elena Enotiades secured a top five mark for her GCSE results in drama.

WIRRAL GRAMMAR SCHOOL FOR GIRLS

PUPILS achieved unprecedented success with 99% of pupils gaining at least five A*-C grades, including English and maths.

More than 63% gained A*/A grades, with 56% of pupils gaining three or more A*/A grades. The average point score is 494.

Six girls gained 10 A*s. A further 33 girls also achieved A* or A grades in all of their subjects.

CALDAY GRANGE

THIRTEEN per cent of students achieved A* and 29.2% achieved A grade.

Two students, Joshua McGuire and Patrick Roberts, achieved 11 A* grades and 27 of their classmates gained 10 A* or As. The school boasts five students in the top 5% nationally for religious studies.

Two students made it into the national top 5% for English literature and another in design and technology.

BELVEDERE SCHOOL

EVERY pupil achieved five or more A*- C with 58% gaining five or more A/A*s and 21% walking away with straight A/A*s.

Of all the papers, 18% were marked at A* and 54% A/A*. Spokeswoman Sue Freeman said the school had achieved a 100% A*-C pass rate for the past few years.

LIVERPOOL COLLEGE

THREE pupils, Richard Ridyard, Jonathan Russell and Hajinder Dusanj, gained nine A* grades.

Another three, Sarah Hussey, Ravinder Dusanj, Sarah Loughrey, achieved seven A*s with Sarah Hussey gaining among the top marks nationally in Spanish.

Overall, 96% of pupils achieved five A* to C passes, 37% of all grades were A*/A while 88.4% of all marks were A* to C.

MERCHANT TAYLORS’ FOR GIRLS

THIRTY girls achieved all A*s and As with 68% of all grades being the top marks.

Gaythri Kumar, Christina Oulton, Lauren McNally gained straight A*s.

Three girls achieved A* in astronomy. Headteacher Louise Robinson said: “Not only are they academic high-fliers, but they are a sheer joy to work with both inside and outside the classroom.”

MERCHANT TAYLORS’ FOR BOYS

JAMES Edis, Rohan Chitkara, Oliver Guest and Mueez Waqar were the top performers and achieved straight A*s.

Overall, 58% of all grades were either A or A* with 16 pupils achieving the clean sweep.

Eight boys achieved A* or A in GCSE Greek.

BLUE COAT

THE school achieved its best-ever set of GCSE results with a 100% pass rate for five or more GCSEs including English and maths.

On top of that, 72% of results were A* and A. Headteacher Sandy Tittershill said: “These are our best-ever set of exam results at the school, and we are absolutely delighted.”

He said the previous best set of results for the school was two years ago when 54% of exams got A* or A.

QUEENS SCHOOL

ALMOST half of all pupils achieved at least eight passes at A* or A, or better, with eleven students being awarded straight A* grades in eight or nine subjects.

With an overall A*- C pass rate of 99.3%, 38% of all papers were awarded the top grade of A*.

Ten students also gained some of the top five marks in the country.