GCSE and A-level league tables for York, North Yorkshire and East Yorkshire

Schools Minister Nick Gibb

At A-level York also came out on top in the region with pupils getting an average point score of 32.63 each compared with 31.51 in North Yorkshire and 29.16 in East Yorkshire.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire County Council said the proportion of students who attained both English and maths places put the county in the top 20 per cent of authorities nationally. Up to 67.5 per cent of North Yorkshire’s students attained grade C or above in both English and mathematics – four per cent above the national average of  63.3 per cent.

North Yorkshire outcomes for attainment in the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) were also 4 per cent above the national average, with 29 per cent of students attaining A* - C in a combined suite of English, maths, sciences, language and humanities. The proportion of pupils who attained good GCSEs in the separate academic subject areas of maths, science and languages was more than 5 per cent above the national average.

North Yorkshire is in the top 10 per cent of councils for high academic success at A-level.  The proportion of A level students who attained the highest grades (AAB or better) is 23.5 per cent in the county, compared with 18.5 per cent nationally. The average academic point score for North Yorkshire students was 31.51 in comparison with the national 30.63.

North Yorkshire also has a high proportion of pupils who attend secondary schools which are good or outstanding; 87.4 per cent compared with national average of 82.1 per cent.

Cllr Arthur Barker, North Yorkshire’s executive member for schools, said:

“Once again North Yorkshire has performed highly against a set of Government measures.

“We must congratulate our school staff, young people and families for this great achievement.  In North Yorkshire we are constantly striving to give young people the best in teaching and learning and these outcomes show that we continue to be successful and in the top tier for achievement nationally.”

A spokesman for East Riding of Yorkshire Council said the authority is ranked 30th out of 150 English local authorities at Progress 8, the top 20 percent nationally.  The local authority is also ranked number 1 for this measure when compared to its statistical neighbours, local authorities similar to the East Riding.

Cllr Julie Abraham, portfolio holder for education, said:  “We are delighted with the improvement that many East Riding schools have brought about this year, which are the best ever outcomes for students in ER secondary schools

 “This is down to the hard work of young people and their families supported by dedicated school staff.  

“East Riding of Yorkshire Council is committed to improving East Riding schools until we have the some of the best in the country. The results have been achieved against a backdrop of the very low level of funding for East Riding schools from the Department for Education.

 Mike Furbank, head of education and schools said:  “These best ever GCSE results are underpinned by many outstanding stories of hard work and application as well as committed teaching and support. We look forward to further improving Ofsted inspection outcomes for East Riding schools, building on the foundation of this year’s best ever results.

“We are proud of the work done by young people throughout the East Riding, with the support of their carers and families. We greatly appreciate the hard work of head teachers, teaching and support staff that have contributed to these results.”

Nationally Press Association analysis of the Department for Education's (DfE) data reveals huge differences in children's access to a good secondary school, an issue that is likely to fuel fresh debate about under-performance in some parts of the country.
Schools Minister Nick Gibb said that the figures showed that the hard work of teachers and pupils is leading to higher standards.
Head teachers warned that the results had been achieved "against a national backdrop of a funding and recruitment crisis".
Overall, 282 secondaries, educating 206,991 children, have fallen under the Government's floor standard based on this new measure. This is around 9.3% of secondaries.
Schools that are considered under-performing face intervention, and could be taken over.
In 2015, under the old five A*-C system, 329 schools (11%) were below the target.

Mr Gibb said: "Today's figures confirm that the hard work of teachers and pupils across the country is leading to higher standards, and for that they should be congratulated.
"As well as confirming that the number of young people taking GCSEs in core academic subjects is rising, today's figures show the attainment gap between disadvantaged and all other pupils has now narrowed by 7% since 2011."
He added there are now nearly 1.8 million more children in good and outstanding schools than in 2010, and the Progress 8 measure will help more children to achieve their potential.
Malcolm Trobe, interim general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "Congratulations to schools and pupils on these results, which have been achieved against a national backdrop of a funding and recruitment crisis.
"Progress 8 is a fairer measure of school performance than the old measure of the proportion of pupils achieving at least five A* to C grades at GCSE including English and maths.
"It better reflects the fact that children start their secondary school education at different levels of academic ability and it aims to judge schools on the progress that all their pupils make, rather than an arbitrary measure of GCSE attainment.
"However, Progress 8 has teething problems, and must be treated with some caution. Its biggest weakness is that the score of a school is disproportionately affected by as few as one or two pupils recording anomalous results.
"We are aware of cases where Progress 8 scores have been badly affected by the fact that a very small number of vulnerable children have missed exams as a result of illnesses or other personal crises."

City of York Council's executive member for education, Cllr Stuart Rawlings,  said: “These excellent results reflect very well on the determination of York’s young people as well as on the range and quality of schools and colleges they attend. There is, however, no complacency in our approach, and we continue to work hard with schools to address areas for improvement to give young people the best possible educational experience.”