Council support for key stage 4 (GCSE) students

Exam Results GIFs | Tenor

With Key Stage 4 results day fast approaching, City of York Council is reminding young people across the city of the support available at this challenging time.

This year’s Key stage 4 results (GCSE level) will be based on grades predicted by teachers, as students were unable to take formal examinations because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Support is available for school leavers who are seeking an apprenticeship or employment opportunity, wanting to move into full time education in York or who are concerned about their personal circumstances acting as a barrier to accessing education, employment or training.

People can find support in York from:

Their school. Teaching staff will be able to support pupils with their next steps.
Careers Advisers employed by our schools
Admissions teams at York College and Askham Bryan College
City of York Council Learning and Work Advisers in our Young People’s Service at 30 Clarence Street; pre booked appointment slots are available and advisers can support with searching for vacancies, developing your CV, completing applications and preparing for interviews. Tel: 01904 555400
National Careers Service – for local employment and training opportunities; or call the national help-line 0800 100 900
Council-led ‘York Apprenticeship Hub’ – find us on Facebook @ York Apprenticeships; email us at York.apprenticeships@york.gov.uk; www.york.gov.uk/yorkapprenticeships for local apprenticeship vacancies. There are still around 50 opportunities in the city and many more in Leeds across a range of sectors and job roles and we can sign post you to agencies and training providers.

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York students congratulated on their GCSE (Key Stage 4) results

The results follow significant changes in the grading system in the last two years, which saw a grading system of 9-1 introduced in English language, English literature and mathematics last year, being rolled out to 20 more subjects this year.

Provisional results show that 70.6% of pupils gained grade 4+ in English and maths which is expected to be above the national average.

Grade 5+ in English and maths are in line with last year’s results, and also expected to be above the national average.

Additionally, the average points score for six core subjects (known as the English Baccalaureate or EBacc) is 4.56 in York this year. Pupils who gain grade 9-4 in English, maths, two science subjects, a modern foreign language and a humanities subject achieve EBacc.

Better GCSE level results at York High School

The Press is today reporting,

Staff and students at York High School are celebrating hugely improved GCSE results after a very challenging year in 2015.

Headteacher David Ellis said: “I am thrilled that the proportion of Year 11 students who have gained 5 good GCSE grades has almost doubled this year compared to 2015, even surpassing our results from two years ago. This is a result of the hard work of our young people and the determined and supportive work of my colleagues. We were extremely disappointed with the way that grade boundaries were moved in 2015 which had a negative impact for our students a year ago but I am incredibly proud of the way that the whole school community has risen to the challenge in the last 12 months resulting in the progress we have made this year”.

Associate head teacher Rod Sims, who is responsible for achievement at York High commented on the great spirit within Year 11 in 2016. He said: “The very pleasing improvements this year are in large part due to the way that the students responded to all of the extra demands that staff have put on them. They have turned up for extra revision sessions in large numbers, in some cases very early in the morning! The young people recognised that as the examination boards continue to raise the bar the challenge of gaining high grades is ever increasing and they worked with staff incredibly hard to gain the very best grades that they could. Our students can be very proud of their achievements and it has been a real pleasure to work with them and their Head of Year Mrs. Harrison to enable us to achieve the outcomes we have.”

One pupil celebrating results is Chloe Stead who achieved 7 GCSEs at grade C. Chloe was the first baby born in York in the new millennium and her results epitomise the effort that the year group as a whole have made this year.

Mr Ellis said “We are delighted for Chloe and the whole year group. Many pupils of all abilities have fulfilled their own individual targets and potential which will allow them to move successfully on to the next stage in their education and careers. We wish them all the very best.”

For photos click here

Exam results league tables for York published

Disappointing results at York High

Exam results in York click to access more infromation

Exam results in York click to access more information

The Department for Education has published the results of GCSE exams taken last year. They make grim reading for the York High School where success rates have plunged.

Of course, there may be many reasons for this and parents will be expecting a full explanation from the head teacher and his school governors in due course.

York schools generally performed better than the rest of the UK with 64% of pupils achieving good GCSE results against an a national average of 57%.

From next year, schools in England will be measured on what is known as Progress 8. Progress 8 will replace the five or more good GCSEs, including maths and English, benchmark as the key measure for all secondary schools.

Progress 8 assesses the progress pupils make between Key Stage 2 tests taken at the end of primary school and their performance in a specified mixture of eight subjects at the end of secondary school. Schools will be given a score based on how their pupils have progressed compared to the national average.

This year, schools were given the option to “opt in” for Progress 8 and 327 schools (around 10%) took this up.

Nationally, head teachers have long complained measuring success on the basis of GCSE results alone is unfair as it does not take into account the intake of the school.

But ministers have maintained parents want and need simple and easy-to-digest information about schools.

The difference in achievement by gender is startling, with roughly a fifth fewer boys than girls reaching the end of Key Stage 4 with a good set of GCSEs.

Some 61.8% of girls got five good GCSEs, including English and maths, compared with 52.5% of their male peers.

And fewer boys than girls made at least the expected level of progress – 65.9% of boys opposed to 76.5% of girls.

More girls (29.3%) than boys achieved the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), which requires GCSEs in two sciences, a language, history or geography, as well as English and maths. Only 19.5% of boys obtained it.

Overall, 24.3% of pupils achieved the EBacc.

There was also a marked difference between the performance of disadvantaged pupils (those eligible for the pupil premium) and their more advantaged peers, with just 36.7% getting five good GCSEs, including maths and English, compared to 64.7%.

The poorest performing local authority was Knowsley on Merseyside, where 37.4% of pupils met the required standard, compared to the national average of 57.1%.

York High head criticises GCSE exam system

Call for inquiry into English Language marks

In a comment to local media York High School in Acomb head teacher David Ellis said had mixed emotions when he looked at the 2015 GCSE results this morning.

He was delighted for pupils Edward Bagnall and Owen Gibson who achieved five and four A* grades respectively but was very disappointed with some other aspects of the results.

Mr Ellis said: “As always our young people supported by the staff at York High have worked incredibly hard, and young people, often with significant barriers to overcome have made huge progress and we are very proud of them.”

He added: “Whilst we are delighted with the outcomes for some of our students it is clear that many of our young people around the crucial grade C border have been punished by the changes to the exam system that are currently taking place.”

Mr Ellis was particularly concerned about English. He said: “It is clear that something has gone seriously wrong with the system when the grades in English Language have fallen significantly whilst at the same time English Literature results have improved dramatically. The same pupils with the same teachers have radically different outcomes in these two similar subjects. This will have significant implications for the young people concerned and for our school”

Mr Ellis explained that York High will be seeking to have the English Language papers remarked as the grades allocated to students were well below those expected even though in other subjects students had achieved in line with expectations. “It is clear to us that something has gone wrong with the examination system either as a result of poor marking and or major changes in the grade boundaries.

“The next few days will be very anxious ones for pupils, their parents and for staff at our school. This cannot be right and it is an issue that is being identified by schools across the country and we will be working with them to ensure we get a fair deal for our students”

York High school also suffered a decline in exam success last year

York GCSE results

Provisional results show that 64 per cent of young people in York achieved five or more A*-C grades including English and Maths GCSE on first entry.

Results this year are not comparable to previous years because of changes made in the performance tables which report the first entry rather than best entry results for candidates.

There have also been significant changes to the examination system in 2014, with the removal of some GCSE equivalent courses from the performance tables, reductions in coursework and the move away from modular examinations towards end of course examinations.

There was some disappointment at York High where a spokesman commented,

“In spite of the hard work of the students, the support of the families and the commitment of staff our results have dropped to 43 per cent of students gaining 5A* – C including English and Maths.

This is of course disappointing but is an inevitable consequence of an assessment based mainly on longer exams at the end of a two year course.”

York GCSE results

Pupils, parents and teachers are celebrating today!

Whilst it is being reported nationally that results are down on last year, York pupils have bucked this trend with schools showing a 4 per cent improvement on last year’s results.

Provisional results show that 67 per cent of young people achieved five or more A*-C grades including English and Maths GCSE, compared to 63 per cent last year.

This result is the highest ever for the city. Fulford school, Huntington school, Archbishop Holgate’s school and All Saints school all achieved over 70 per cent.