"Published on Thursday 28 August 2003 15:32 SECONDARY SCHOOLS in the Derbyshire Dales have out-performed the national achievement of higher grade GCSEs. Every GCSE student at Darley Dales St Elphins School achieved five or more of the higher grades A* to C and 50 per cent of all grades were at A and A* level. At Matlocks Highfields School, 62 per cent of grades were at the higher grades of A* to C and of the 237 year 11 students at Bakewells Lady Manners School, 72 per cent have gained at least five GCSEs at the higher grades A* to C and 27.4 per cent of grades were at A or A* level. All these results compare very positively with national average of 52 per cent of pupils who achieved five or more A* to C grades. Rod Leach, headteacher of Anthony Gell School, Wirksworth said: "We are very pleased with the results. Virtually all our youngsters have met or exceeded their own targets. "One hundred per cent of year 11 have had some success at GCSE and large numbers are expected to stay on at school. "My thanks go to them for their hard work, to the staff for theirs and to the pupils parents." Principal of St Elphins School, Dr Deborah Mouat, said: "Overall, our results have been better than last year. All of the girls have done very well and some have been pleasantly surprised." She put the schools success down to average class sizes of 15 which allow more individual attention. Dr Mouat said: "Class size matters and these results bear it out." St Elphins pupil Rachel Howard achieved ten A*s and Harriet Holt gained four A*s and four As. Dr Mouat praised the hard work of the girls and their teachers. The GCSE results at Highfields School, Matlock, exceeded both the schools and individuals students targets. Headteacher Ian Alford said: "What is particularly striking about this years results is the strong performance by students right across the ability range. "Whether their target grade was A or F, they have worked very hard to achieve it." He added: "The support of their Head of Year, Jill Rickels, has been crucial too, especially for those students who were at risk of not achieving their potential. "In the end, every student entered for an exam achieved at least one grade." Approximately half of the 261 students plan to stay on at Highfields to take the two year AS and A2 course. Others have secured places either with local companies on modern apprenticeships, which are a combination of work-place and college-based training, or at further education institutions. At Lady Manners School, four students gained nine passes at A or A* and 11 students have reached A or A* in ten or 11 subjects. Headteacher Mary Sellers said: "The students have worked very hard indeed to get these results and were proud of the effort they have made. "But, as always, the school is especially proud of many students of modest ability, or students who have needed special support who have really worked very hard to achieve their potential." She added: "Its always a nerve racking time for these young people, but there has been a great atmosphere in school today and they are now looking forward to moving on to the sixth form, college or jobs." It was the first time Lady Manners students have followed courses in Citizenship and in ICT during years 10 and 11. Miss Sellers said: "This means that they are leaving with a much better understanding of how they can make a contribution to society and with a much higher degree of competence in using ICT. "They will be ready for the world of work as well as for education and training post 16.""
Reprinted by kind permission of Matlock Mercury |
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