More schools meeting government GCSE targets

More secondary schools are meeting the targets set by the government in order to improve school standards. 

The education secretary, Michael Gove has praised the improvement in school table league performance, as more GCSE students are getting the expected test results.

The new league table of the exams which students took in 2013 showed that just 154 schools didn’t meet the target of at least 40% of pupils achieving grades C and above in their GCSEs, including in maths and English. 

It showed an improvement on the last year’s table league, where 195 schools failed to meet the target. 

In the national average, six out of ten pupils have achieved five GCSEs between A* and C, including the core subjects.   

The secondary school which achieved the best results for the second year running was Colyton Grammar School in Devon. 

St Thomas More School in London has improved the most. In 2010, only 31% of students hit the government’s target of 5 GCSEs at a grade C and above. In 2013, this number had risen to 91%. 

However, the league table has met many criticisms among teaching unions. 

Former head teacher and chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, Chris McGovern, said: “A C grade just isn’t good enough these days, it is bordering on a certificate of incompetence.” 

He added: “The fact is that the bar has been too low nationally for too long and the Government is right to talk about toughening things up to instill a bit of aspiration in large numbers of really poor performing schools.” 

The league table also showed the worst performing schools. The figures showed that the Hull Studio School has achieved an average of G-grade among its students. 

From 2016, the rankings will focus on a wider range of subjects, changing from the “best five” to “best eight” GCSEs, in order to widen the curriculum.

Justyna Majewska