GCSE Results in Suffolk

The Suffolk Schools' GCSE results have come out today and I have been taking a quick look.

On the face of it it seems that the county continues to move in the right direction.  This year 56% of students received passes at A to C compared with 52% last year.  It is clear that some schools did exceptionally well, but others have expressed disappointment and are looking to have papers remarked.

A gratifying result is that the rate of improvement among disadvantaged children has been good, with 72% of all Suffolk Schools seeing better results here.

It is difficult to tell at present how Suffolk has done relative to other parts of the UK, but the 4% uplift overall is higher than the national overall improvement.  This was only 0.2%, so we must have moved up the rankings to some degree.

Funding has recently been found from the Education Budget to try to speed up the rate of improvement, judged recently by OFSTED to be too slow.  I hope that as a result this time next year we will see another above average improvement.

I am looking forward to playing my part in driving things forward by sitting on the Schools Improvement Accountability Board in the autumn.