FULL marks go to Wilmslow High School once again for out performing the county and national average with 68 per cent of students achieving high grades at GCSE, according to the latest league tables.

The number of pupils who notched up five GCSEs at grade A* to C was 1 pc higher than last year. It was also 5 pc higher than the county average of and seven pc higher than the national average.

And the number of pupils scoring A* to C grades in at least five subjects at Alderley Edge School for Girls has increased to 93 pc compared with 90 pc in 2006.

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The league tables show that students across the whole of Cheshire continue to break their own GCSE attainment record with an average of 63.4 pc pass rate, beating the previous year by 1.5 pc and 1.4 pc above the national figure.

Gill Bremner, head teacher at Wilmslow High, said she was pleased with the results. She said: “Pleasingly, the new style GCSE performance tables, which have focused attention on the proportion of students attaining the higher grades of A*-C in English and mathematics, continue to demonstrate that Wilmslow High School is a comprehensive school where students of all ability levels can achieve their full potential.

“With the largest Year 11 in Cheshire the 2007 GCSE results placed Wilmslow High School well above national and Cheshire’s results for five grades or more at A*-C with 68 pc and five grades or more at A*-C including English and mathematics which is at 57 pc, Level two functional English and mathematics at 60 per cent and two grades A*-C which cover the KS4 science programme of study at 63 per cent.

“I am grateful to the staff and students for their hard work, commitment and determination to do well. However we are never complacent and we always aim to improve on our previous best.”

The tables also include a “value-added” score, designed to measure the difference each secondary school makes between 11 and 16.

The Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF) believes the value-added measures give a better indication of a school’s effectiveness than attainment measures such as percentages which reach certain thresholds.

The measure is derived from comparing the students’ best scores in up to eight GCSEs with the average performance of key stage (KS) 2 tests taken at 11 in maths, English and science. As a guide, the DCSF say scores above 1000 represent schools in which pupils on average made more progress than similar pupils nationally, while scores below 1000 represent schools where pupils made less progress.

With 292 pupils in 2007, Wilmslow High achieved a value added score of 976.3. It is the second year that the DCSF has published figures on the numbers of students attaining five or more GCSE results at A* to C grades including English and maths recording that 57 pc of pupils at Wilmslow High School achieved the top ranking.

This result is 5.5 pc higher than the county-wide total of 51.5 pc, which is almost five pc higher than the national average of 46.7 pc.

And in their A level examinations Wilmslow High School students averaged 713.5 points in a new scoring system.

At Alderley Edge School for Girls 92 pc of students achieved five or more GCSE results at A* to C grades including English and maths, while A-level pupils scored 921.7.

Headteacher Kathy Mills said: “Obviously I am delighted with the school’s position; our students have done very well. But I am concerned about the league tables because they are flawed and misleading.

“In the latest tables the Government has included science results at GCSE but schools are marked down if pupils  only study two out of the three sciences under the new rules, even if the courses were more difficult.”

In A-level examinations Cheshire-wide students averaged 747.8 points per pupil in a new scoring system - an increase of 15 points on the previous year.

Absence figures also published last Thursday show Cheshire’s absence rate at 7.2 pc which is below the national rate of 7.8 pc.

Cheshire County Council’s education chief, David Rowlands, praised the results. He said: “Once again I would like to congratulate students for attaining results which are above the national figure and this reflects on the hard work of teachers and parents.”

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