WEST LANCS: County ahead of the national average

Jan 10 2008

LANCASHIRE schools are ahead of the national average in both GCSEs and A-Levels.

Post-16, students get 213.2 points in their A-levels, while 48.1% of GCSE pupils claim five top grades, including English and Maths.

Kingswood College, Ormskirk, was top with 82% achieving five GCSE passes including maths and English.

All the pupils of Maharishi school, Ormskirk, gained top five passes at GCSE, but their 100% grade was helped by only having 10 candidates.

Glenburn Sports College, Skelmersdale, had the most disappointing results in West Lancs by falling well short of the national average with 27% of pupils reaching the national standard. It also has the worst truancy rate in borough.

County councillor Vali Patel, cabinet member for schools, said: "The overall GCSE results for Lancashire are very encouraging. We have made a good improvement on last year's results, and are above the national average for maintained schools, and I would like to congratulate heads, teachers and pupils on all their hard work.

"There have been very good performances by a number of schools, some of which show continued excellence whilst the results of others have significantly improved.

"The tables also show the schools in which we know that improvements are needed; we will continue to challenge and work closely with these schools to help them carry out their plans to raise standards."

TOP Five Schools: 1 Maharishi, 2 Kingswood College, 3 Bishop Rawsthorne, 4 Stonyhurst College, 5 Hutton Church of England Grammar.