School league figures will today show all Merseyside local authorities improving their GCSE results, with Knowsley off the foot of the table. Laura Sharpe reports
LIVERPOOL students have beaten the national average at GCSE for the first time, government figures have confirmed.
The GCSE national tables also show Knowsley has moved off its unwanted position as the worst local authority for GCSEs in the country, although its results move it ahead of only one other authority, in Hull.
All Merseyside authorities showed improvements, with Sefton the best performing authority. Warrington was best performer in the wider region.
Provisional figures released last summer also show one of the country’s top schools, Liverpool’s Blue Coat, recording a 100% pass rate, making it the city’s top- performing school.
Figures show 66.1% of Liverpool students got five A* to C GCSEs, meaning they have overtaken the national average of 65.3%
But Liverpool students are still failing to hit the national average for those getting five good GCSEs including Maths and English. Despite a rise of 4% to 41.2% of students getting five good results including English and Maths, the city was still short of the national average of 47.6%, which rose by 1.6% on last year.
All Merseyside authorities showed improvement of between 1.6% and 5.9% on the number of pupils getting the benchmark of five good GCSES which include Maths and English.
Last year, barely a quarter – 26.7% of Knowsley’s school leavers – achieved five A* to C GCSEs including English and Maths.
It left the authority trailing behind a government target of 30%, where failing schools are threatened with closure.
Ministers announced last June they wanted no school to be in this position by 2011.
Despite failing short of national averages, Knowsley showed a 3.2% increase to 29.9% of school leavers achieving the five A* to C GCSEs including English and Maths.
St Helens showed the smallest percentage improvement of 1.5%, with Sefton boasting the highest rise, taking its A* to C benchmark from 45.5% to 52.4%.
Liverpool’s results mark a massive turnaround from 2000, when the pass rate stood at 36%, and the city’s education service faced the threat of privatisation.
Liverpool City Council’s leader, Cllr Warren Bradley, said: “Surpassing the national average for GCSEs is a monumental achievement for Liverpool. It’s testament to our huge investment in education in this city.
“Eight years ago, we were lagging way below the national average, with only 36% of Liverpool schoolchildren achieving A* to C in their GCSEs.
“We made it an absolute priority to turn this around and develop a first-class education service for our young people.
“The city council has worked tirelessly with schools, teaching staff, governors and students to drive up standards, so it comes as no surprise to me that we have reached this milestone. But we will not be resting on out laurels.
“We are absolutely committed to ensuring every single one of our young people has every chance of achieving good GCSE grades, and we will continue to work together to achieve this.”
Nationally, the figures show more than 300,000 teenagers left secondary school last year without five good GCSE grades.
One in seven schools, 440 in total, are failing to ensure that 30% of their students achieve at least five C grades, including the two core subjects.
They could face closure or being turned into an Academy if their results don’t improve.
Schools Secretary Ed Balls welcomed the results, saying: “We always said that around a third of National Challenge schools were on track and figures published today prove this point.
“We now need to continue to concentrate on the remaining schools and ensure we are giving them the support and challenge they need to make sure no child is left behind. This is no time for excuses – I want every child to go to a good school, and that means every school getting above 30%.”
laurasharpe
