Delight as county GCSE results stay above national average

62.4% of Nottinghamshire pupils achieved five or more A* to C grades (including English and maths) in their GCSEs this summer according to provisional figures from the Department for Education – a 1.8% increase on 2012.

The county has also moved up four places in the local authority league to 51st.

The national average for five or more A* to C grades (including English and maths) is 58.6%, a decrease of 0.8% on 2012 results.

There was also an improvement in the percentage of pupils achieving the English Baccalaureate – A*-C grades in English, mathematics, two sciences, history or geography and a foreign language – up 7.9% on last year to 22.5%.

“We are understandably delighted with these results as it confirms pupils across the county have not only closed the gap on national outcomes introduced in 2006 but have maintained their upward trajectory,” said Nottinghamshire County Council’s committee chairman for children and young people’s services, John Peck.

“Our teachers have been working hard, focusing their efforts on supporting pupils and raising standards and this is borne out by the results.”

A contributing factor to the increase in results in recent years is the County Council’s School Improvement Strategy which forges strong partnerships between some of the county’s most successful schools and the weaker schools.

The schools share best practice in teaching standards, leadership and working systems.

Coun Peck added: “The school partnership project has had an immediate impact on schools across the county which in turn is reflected in our overall GCSE results.

”We are committed to making sure that all our pupils can fulfil their potential and we value all the hard work teachers have put in to make this happen.”

John Slater, service director for education standards, said: “It is our ambition that achievements at the end of Key Stage 4 will continue to increase as a result of targeted intervention with pupils at Key Stage 3.

“We aim to ensure that pupils receive the best possible support in relation to core subjects which will result in greater success for the more vulnerable learners embarking on GCSE courses.”

The provisional GCSE results for Nottinghamshire also show that: 87.9% of pupils obtained 5 or more A*-C grades at GCSE, an increase of 0.3 percentage points on last year and better than neighbours Derbyshire and Lincolnshire.

The results across the county for those achieving 5 or more A*-G grades stands at 96.6%, a decrease of 0.1 percentage points against last year.