Ryedale schools delighted at league successes (From Gazette & Herald)

Ryedale schools delighted at league successes

2:09pm Wednesday 1st February 2012 in News By Karen Darley

STUDENTS and staff at schools in Ryedale are celebrating success in the national league tables.

The tables, published by the Department for Education last Thursday, appeared in a new format giving parents and students more detail about each school.

Rob Williams, head teacher of Malton School, said he was delighted to see that it was still the top achieving non-selective state sixth form in North Yorkshire over the five years from 2007 to 2011.

“This is a tremendous achievement. The staff and students in our sixth form work very closely together.

“For our departing Year 13 cohort to have exceeded an average of more than three full A grades at A-level for each of the last five years shows remarkably consistent excellence.

No other comprehensive school in the county has been able to sustain that level of achievement.”

Mr Williams said prospective students and parents should look at the year-on-year comparisons available on the Government’s website and consider standards over a number of years rather than one-off performance.

Richard Bramley, head teacher at Lady Lumley’s School in Pickering, said he welcomed the publication of more information by the Government.

“If all the information is published about a school, parents will be less likely to be bamboozled by one or two headline figures.

Lady Lumley’s School comes out really well in the tables,” he said.

“We are the best performing state school in North Yorkshire for the percentage of students achieving three A-levels and results at GCSE are equally pleasing.”

Mr Bramley said he was proud of the students in the school and proud of the staff and parents who have supported them over the years.

Norton College’s head teacher, Phil Loftus, said there were many positive results across the curriculum, especially in science.

“Some 87 per cent of students achieved five or more good GCSEs, however too many students just missed out on a C grade in either maths or English and achieved one grade below expected. This has impacted on the 5 A*-C including English and maths measure that is reported in the league tables,” he added.

“This is a dip in performance for these subjects – in 2010, 57 per cent achieved the benchmark – and so all linked to these subjects have been working hard to ensure our current Year 11 will perform as strongly in these subjects as they have in the past.”

Mr Loftus said that students who progressed to the sixth form without these important grades began a re-sit programme in September and have since achieved a C or above.

“We have given more resources to the teaching of such important subjects and I am delighted with the response from both teams of teachers,” he added.

“Encouragingly, the hard work of our current Year 11 is paying off already and module results in both subjects so far this year give us confidence that results will return to the levels of the previous year.”

Ryedale School head teacher Richard Crane, said: “At Ryedale School we are delighted with our position in the recentlypublished GCSE performance tables – a reflection of the hard work and consistent approach of very talented staff and students, and superb support from parents. The emphasis on academic rigour, very high standards and challenge for all is reflected in the fact that we are one of the highest performing comprehensive schools in North Yorkshire and I am confident we will continue to build upon this in the future.