Local students buck national A-level trend (From York Press)

Local students buck national A-level trend

10:02am Friday 17th August 2012 in News

STUDENTS in York, North and East Yorkshire celebrated A-level success, bucking the national trend which showed a fall in the number of A grades for the first time in more than 20 years.

In North Yorkshire, A-level students maintained the high levels of success of previous years with early figures showing schools recording outstanding A-level scores, despite the fall nationally in top grades.

The early figures suggested North Yorkshire will exceed the North East regional average of just over six per cent per cent of students reaching A* grades – awarded to students who achieve 90 per cent and above for their final exams.

Provisional results for York show 28 per cent of entries were awarded A*/A grades, which is again higher than the national figure of 26.6 per cent. More than 78 per cent of entries were given a top grade of A*, A, B or C.

Among the top performers in York was Huntington School , which celebrated an average International Baccalaureate (IB) points score of 35.4 which head teacher John Tomsett said placed the school as the sixth best state school and in the top 25 of all schools in the country offering the qualification.

The school’s A-level results saw 99 per cent of students passing with grades A* to E, and 50 per cent of students gaining A* to B grades. More than one in four of all grades was either an A* or an A.

IB students study six subjects, undertake 150 hours of community service and write a 4,000 word independent essay. Rather than receiving individual grades, students receive a total point score out of 45.

Mr Tomsett said: “With the current difficult economic conditions it has never been more important for state school students to attain the best qualifications possible. These results are more evidence that state education is in good health.”

City of York Council education chief Coun Janet Looker said: “We would like to congratulate all young people, schools and families on their achievement this year.

“Once again, York pupils have produced an excellent set of A-level results and we are absolutely delighted for them. It is important to remember the impact of each individual student’s results on plans for their future – and we wish them all every success as they embark upon the next stage of their lives.”

At King James’ School, in Knaresborough, pupils achieved record success with 51 per cent of grades grades at A* to B – an increase of 14 per cent on last year with an overall pass rate of 98 per cent and a number of students achieving a clean sweep of A* and A grades.

The A-level system awards points for AS-levels and A-levels and their equivalents – a grade A at A-level is worth 120 points, a grade E gains 40 points.

East Yorkshire students increased their average point score per candidate by 5.4 per cent this year, continuing an upward trend over the past five years.

Coun Julie Abraham, education chief at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “These results are something to celebrate. The young people have worked immensely hard and their teaching staff and families have supported them to get these tremendous grades that they should be proud of.”

Nationally, the proportion of A-levels scoring at least an A grade has fallen for the first time in more than 20 years. In total, 26.6 per cent of the exams were given an A or A*, down from 27 per cent in 2011.

It is believed to be the biggest fall in the history of A-levels. The last time it dropped was between 1990 and 1991 when it decreased to 11.9 per cent from 12 per cent.