Cheshire East students again achieve excellent GCSE results in 2018

Cheshire East pupils have achieved yet more success with an excellent set of provisional GCSE results in 2018.

Provisional figures show that 70 per cent of pupils achieved a ‘standard pass’ or better in English and maths with 49 per cent achieving the ‘strong pass’. What is worth noting this year is the increase in the higher pass rate which is two percentage points above last year’s figure. Cheshire East is likely to be well above the national rate.

In English, more than 80 per cent of Cheshire East pupils gained the standard pass or better with 67 per cent achieving a stronger pass. In maths, 75 per cent of Cheshire East pupils gained the standard pass or better with 55 per cent achieving a stronger pass.

It is again encouraging to see the improvement in outcomes for boys especially in maths with boys now outperforming the girls. In addition, the performance of disadvantaged pupils has improved in English and maths.

Councillor Jos Saunders, children’s and families portfolio holder, said: “The young people of Cheshire East have once again excelled in their GCSE exam and have certainly risen to the challenge of having to deal with new exams arrangements and curriculum content.

“I am absolutely delighted for them, as GCSEs are the really important bedrock for a young person’s future. This time of year is an anxious one for pupils but I really do hope that the agonising wait for results has been worth it.

“I want to thank families, teachers and all school staff, who have worked so very hard to support our pupils and also the young people themselves – who continue to maintain an extraordinarily high success rate in Cheshire East.

“To continue to perform as a local authority at the highest level, year after year, is a real credit to our schools. To achieve these outstanding results requires real determination and commitment from everyone involved and gives every young learner the best opportunity to progress into their next phase of education, apprenticeship, training or employment.”

New reformed GCSEs have been developed to meet the requirements of the government, who wanted more-challenging qualifications and better differentiation of students at the higher grades.

The new grading system using the 9-1 tiering rather than A* - G has been extended this year to around 20 curriculum subjects resulting in the majority of entries this year using  numerical grades.