A SPALDING head-teacher says there is “no excuse” for poor GCSE pass rates and has vowed not to let it happen at their school again.
Janet Daniels, head of the now federated Sir John Gleed School, says the girls’ campus can do better after it was left in the bottom five schools in Lincolnshire for the number of pupils gaining five or more A*-C GCSEs including English and maths.
The Gleed Girls’ position was revealed last week as the Department for Education released national league tables based on the results from the summer.
The school suffered a 14 per cent drop in its pass rate to 37 per cent.
Mrs Daniels said: “We were very disappointed. We had a three-year upward trend and this was, although not unexpected, extremely disappointing.
“For us there is no excuse. We cannot let it happen again because our students deserve better.”
Mrs Daniels said the year group contained a high number of special educational needs students and about 20 per cent of the year group have English as an additional language.
She added: “But this is no excuse. We know we can do better. We have lots of strategies in place and we are confident that we will see an improvement back to the old standard.”
Spalding High School was among the county’s top performers, with 99 per cent of last year’s year 11 cohort achieving five or more A*-C grades, including English and maths.
Headteacher Tim Clark said: “We are very pleased. They were exceptionally good results for both GCSE and A-level exams.
“The new league tables are much more complex and it’s not just about the attainment of pupils it’s also the progress they made. At GCSE for English and maths it was phenomenal.
“We are proud of the fact we consistently get good results and that’s a tremendous achievement for staff and students.”
Countywide, the five A*-C including English and maths pass rate was 62.2 per cent – a rise of three per cent on the previous year. This puts Lincolnshire four per cent above the national average.
Out of 152 local authorities, Lincolnshire is now ranked 32nd and within the top 25 per cent of authorities nationally.
The league tables also give insight as to how each school is performing by the value added to pupils, of which the George Farmer Technology and Language College in Holbeach was one of the top achievers. The school has since become the University Academy Holbeach.
The tables also measure the English Baccalaureate, which scores the proportion of pupils achieving A*-C grades in English, maths, science, humanities (history or geography) and languages.