Chiswick School Bucks National Trend for GCSEs

Increase in pass rates locally as nationally grades see biggest ever fall

Chiswick School has bucked the national trend this year with a big increase in GCSE pass rates against a background of the biggest ever fall in grades nationally.

Some of the increase can be accounted for by a significant recovery in pass rates in English with 75.6% of pupils obtaining grades A*-C. Last year performance in this subject had been disappointing with results being moderated down by the exam board.

Georgia Barratt and Elisa Rose Inoue Halkes

For maths an impressive 73% of students passed Mathematics with grades A*/C. When combined, 66% of the year 11 cohort passed both Maths and English with grades A*/C. New accountability measures came into force this year which see the old 5 A*/C including Maths and English no longer being used to measure school progress.

According to the school, the new accountability measures show the ‘value’ that Chiswick has added to students since they arrived at the school from their various primary schools. Chiswick scored and estimated +0.12 in this measure, where 0.0 is average nationally. This demonstrates that Chiswick students are progressing at a greater rate than in other schools nationally.

Exceptional performance from individual students include:

Emily COBB 11 A*s, 2 As and 1C
Francesco COMPAGNONI 10 A*s, 1 A and 1B
Lucy ROWDEN 5 A*s, 4 As and 2Bs
Yasir ABDI 5A*s, 2As, 1B and 1 C
Georgia BARRATT 4 A*s, 6 As and 1C
Chris STEVENS 4 A*s and 6 As
Analucia TOMASSO 4 A*s and 6 As
Aakangsha LUND 4 A*s, 4 As, 2 Bs and 1C
Shukry ABDI 4 A*s, 3 As, 2 Bs and 2CS
Sanela KAJEVIC 2 A*s, 7 As, 1 B and 1C
Donya SHIRAZI-RHYS 2 A*s, 7 As and 5Bs

Tony Ryan headteacher stated: “this cohort of students has worked hard, not for one year, but throughout their time at Chiswick School. They are a close knit bunch who have looked after each other and truly deserve the success that they have achieved today. They have worked closely with staff to achieve their very best. We look forward to working with a large number of them who are returning to our Sixth Form in September and wish those going to study elsewhere the very best of luck”.

Local schools have generally seen better results despite the national trend. Students at Latymer Upper School are celebrating another good year of GCSE results with 100% of pupils achieving at least five GCSEs with A*- C grades. Of this figure, seven pupils achieved 11 A* grades, 23 pupils achieved at least 10 A* grades, 66 achieved at least 8 A* grades and 110 achieved at least five A* grades across a wide range of subjects. 75% of pupils achieved an A* in Maths and English.

Head, David Goodhew commented, "Congratulations to all our GCSE pupils who have seen their hard work rewarded today. This year group includes some of our best artists, actors and musicians, the county champions at hockey and netball, and a world champion acro-gymnast! They exemplify the advantages of a rounded education, where top grades do not entail sacrificing extra-curricular activity. ”

Students at St Benedict's are celebrating gaining 238 A*s and 385 As with almost half of all exams taken graded A* or A. The A*-C pass rate was 93.5%.

Retiring Headmaster, Mr Cleugh, said “I am delighted to see so many students do so well and know they will continue on to even greater success in the future.

At St Augustine’s Priory. Manisha Thukral, 16 years of age, was awarded the perfect score of 10 A* GCSE grades. This outstanding achievement follows an equally impressive performance by her sister, Ridhi who last week learned that she had achieved 4 A* grades at A Level.

Headteacher, Mrs Sarah Raffray observes, “The individual attention we provide each student is integral to the bespoke education on offer at St Augustine’s Priory. Manisha and Ridhi have different interests and aspirations, but each have realised their potential and I am proud to see them both excel in their chosen subjects.”

Overall GCSE results slipped to their lowest level since 2008 with the biggest ever year-on-year decline. The proportion of entries achieving A* to C has dropped from 69% to 66.9% and A* grades have slipped from 6.6% to 6.5%

Schools Minister Nick Gibb has said that the decline has been caused by more pupils in England being required to retake English and Maths if they did not obtain a grade C last year. Northern Ireland and Wales saw improvement (Scotland is not included in these figures) but neither require retakes. But even if the older pupils doing retakes are excluded the proportion getting A* to C declined by 1.3% points.

There has also been an increase in the gender gap with 71.3% of entries by girls getting a C grade or above compared with 62.4% for boys.

This will be the last year before a major change in the grading of GCSEs which from now on will be measured by a number system from 1-9.

August 26, 2016