West Sussex school children achieved some fabulous GCSE results on Thursday (23 August), early figures show, despite sitting harder new exams.
The vast majority of courses this year have been toughened up, with less emphasis on coursework over the two years and more on final exams.
Most GCSE results in England are now being graded from 9 to 1, with 7 the equivalent to A and 4 a C grade.
Early figures provided by West Sussex schools and academies combined show:
• The proportion of West Sussex students achieving the pass level Grade 4 is in line with the average of 66.6% across England
• Schools’ Attainment 8 scores (the average of their students’ grades across eight key subjects) were similar to last year despite the changes
Richard Burrett, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, said: “Students have had to learn far more for these tougher exams so it is testament to their hard work and determination to succeed that this has been translated into some brilliant results.
“Individual schools will be celebrating some quite outstanding results on the back of last week’s strong A Level results. Much of this success is down to the excellent teaching and school support.”
Students who did not achieve the grades they wanted are encouraged to speak to their school or college about the opportunities still available to them.
The results are provisional until the Department for Education issues more detailed examination results later this year and the figures have been confirmed.
