Wirral students perform well in new exam league tables (From Wirral Globe)

Wirral students perform well in new exam league tables

12:39pm Wednesday 13th January 2010 in News By Leigh Marles

Wirral students have beaten the national average in gaining good grades in GCSE exams.

New league tables released by the Government today show 73.3% of pupils achieved five or more A*-C grades - the national average is 70%.

The best performing schools in Wirral were Birkenhead School in Prenton and West Kirby Grammar School for Girls, where 100% of pupils gained A*-C grades in five subjects including English and maths.

But four schools in the borough are failing to hit a Government-set target which demands 30% of pupils leave with five A*-C grades including English and maths.

They are Rock Ferry High (25%), Oldershaw (27%), Park High (27%) and Wallasey School(29%).

Around 300 schools across the country now have just one year left to improve their results - the target is for no school to be in this position by 2011.

Schools which fail to meet the threshold fall under the Government's "National Challenge" initiative, and could be closed or turned into an academy.

But the figures show that 41 of the flagship academies are also failing to meet this target.

And of the 122 academies reporting results in 2009, 32 were in the league table of the 200 worst schools in the country.

The decision has already been made in Wirral to close Rock Ferry and Park High due to falling pupil numbers and merge them into an academy sponsored by the University of Liverpool and the University of Chester.

Cllr Phil Davies, Wirral’s cabinet member for children’s services and lifelong learning, said: “I understand that the academies which are failing to hit the target have sponsors with little or no track record in academic achievement.

"I would hope and expect that with the high quality of the Wirral sponsors, plus the £10m of investment, the academy will do very well and will be a great improvement on the current position."

He said he was confident that Oldershaw and Wallasey School would improve sufficiently during the next year to avoid the Government's axe.

And he added: "It is really pleasing to see that Wirral has improved so much since last year – improving so that now 53.8 per cent of our pupils leave school with five GCSEs grade A*-C including maths and English or equivalent.

“The 'contextual value added' results also show us that two secondary schools - Oldershaw School in Wallasey and St John’s Catholic High School, Plessington, are among the top 5% nationally in how much progress pupils have made at this level.

“The A-level and equivalent results are also very encouraging and have risen again.

“I would like to thank all the pupils who worked so hard in their exams and all the teachers and other school staff who helped them to learn and thrive.”