North Yorkshire’s schools and colleges are again amongst the best in the national league tables published recently, with overall scores and those of many schools showing strong improvements.
At GCSE, North Yorkshire is first in the Yorkshire and Humberside and ranks 26th out of 150 authorities nationally for its schools’ GCSE 5 A*-C results including English and Maths – with over 63 per cent of pupils reaching that level, well above the national rate of almost 59 per cent.
Many of North Yorkshire’s schools improved their results significantly. For example, Tadcaster Grammar School secured a 20 per cent increase – from 57 to 77 per cent of pupils securing five A*-C passes including English and Maths; Settle College secured an increase of 17 per cent from 47 per cent to 64 per cent. Bedale High School secured a 13% increase, Risedale and St Francis Xavier 10%, and Barlby and Selby High schools secured 9% increases in the proportion of students who attained five A*-C passes including English and maths.
The proportion of pupils achieving at least 5 GCSEs at A*-C, or equivalent qualifications, in any subjects rose to 83.8 per cent – again well above the national figure of 79.5 per cent.
North Yorkshire also ranks first in the Yorkshire and Humber region and 25th nationally for achievement in the English Baccalaureate, awarded to pupils who achieve at least a C grade in five specific GCSE subjects – English, maths, a humanity, a language and two sciences.
Over 21 per cent of pupils across the county gained the English Baccalaureate compared to 17.6 per cent nationally.
North Yorkshire ranked first in the Yorkshire and Humber region for the percentage of students entered who achieved a C pass and above in English (73.2), Maths (70.4), two Sciences (83.8), the Humanities (73.3) and Languages (77.3).
For post-16 students North Yorkshire ranks 9th out of 150 authorities nationally, with students achieving an average of 801.4 points, compared to 746 points nationally. Within North Yorkshire there has been a rising trend since 2009 of points gained per student, as well as of points gained per examination entry.
As many as 87.5 per cent of North Yorkshire students gained at least three A levels and 96.4 per cent of students gained at least two A-levels; again, well above national averages.
County Councillor Arthur Barker, North Yorkshire’s executive member for schools said:
Our young people and school staff work extremely hard to reach these very high standards.
These results once again show North Yorkshire’s commitment to ensuring that all students can meet their full potential and that our schools continue to offer excellence and a broad balanced appropriate curriculum.
