North East Lincolnshire GCSE results go through the ceiling

Secondary schools in North East Lincolnshire have enjoyed a fantastic set of result this year. Based on unvalidated data, the provisional pass rate for the all-important five plus GCSE passes at A*-C grade, including exams in English and mathematics, has risen by 7.8 per cent. This takes the pass rate to 53.6 per cent, above last year’s national average. And this year every school has exceeded the 30 per cent ‘floor target’ that is the minimum level expected of a school.

Five schools have made huge leaps of 12 per cent or more in their results. Whitgift and Healing lead the field with improvements of 17 per cent each; Humberston and Lindsey are a point or so behind. The three schools that were on or below the floor target last year have all made significant progress. Whitgift has seen the most dramatic rise followed by Wintringham at 12 per cent and Immingham at eight per cent. Havelock and Hereford have consolidated the improvements in last year’s performance. Schools that are closing and transforming into new institutions are all going out on a high: Lindsey has hit the 50 per cent mark for the first time and Matthew Humberstone and St. Mary’s have improved their results to take them comfortably into the 40 per cent plus range.

Each year, there is a new type of exam or way of assessing performance that achieves prominence. For some time the key indicator was the percentage of 5 plus GCSE passes at A*-C, an indicator in which local schools continue to exceed the national average. Now, as well as the key measure of 5 plus A*-C grades including English and mathematics, there is interest in the percentage of students obtaining 3 or more A* and A grades. Twenty four per cent of students in North East Lincolnshire have achieved this indicator, with both Tollbar and Healing identifying more than 40 per cent of their cohort. Also important in this day and age is the number of young people achieving good grades in science subjects, measured by those getting 2 plus A*-C grades. Here our schools have improved on their 2009 performance by 11 per cent, including five schools with over 70 per cent of students achieving this.

Barbara Hughes, Executive Director of Children and Family Services commented: “These results are a credit to everyone involved. It is a tremendous level of improvement in one year. I would like to congratulate all the young people who have worked so hard to achieve these grades and to thank all of our teachers and staff in schools for their commitment and support.”