East Lancashire A level students excel

11:07am Thursday 14th August 2008

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EDUCATION leaders in East Lancashire today rubbished claims that A levels are getting easier as pupils across the area continue to excel.

Schools and colleges again chalked up near perfect overall pass rates, with only very slight fluctuations on last year’s results.

Burnley College maintained its 100 per cent pass rate for the fourth year running, and no-one was far behind.

The rate was 99.5 per cent at Nelson and Colne, and 99.1 per cent at both St Mary’s College and St Wilfrid’s CE High School and Technology College in Blackburn.

Thirty students got at least three As at St Mary’s College, which upped its overall A level pass rate again to 99.11 per cent, with almost half – 45.6 per cent – graded A and B.

Director of development at St Mary's Sarah Flanagan: “I don’t want to hear any of this rubbish about them getting easier. It’s just sheer hard work.”

Stuart Smith, headteacher at Burnley Schools’ Sixth Form, agreed.

The sixth form celebrated a 97 per cent pass rate – a two point rise on last year – for its second set of A levels, and just over half of all marks gained at the Heald Road sixth form were As and Bs.

Mr Smith said: “We’d like to congratulate all our students on their outstanding results and we recognise that they are due reward for their considerable efforts over the BSF transition period.”

“It seems strange that some people will belittle A levels and cast aspersions on their quality when nobody seems to do likewise as records fall at the Olympics!

“Surely the reasons for improvement in both areas are undoubtedly linked to better teaching, improved research and development and a realisation of the need for high performance to secure a better future.”

Assistant headteacher at St Wilfrid’s Janet Hopkinson added: “We are delighted with our results, the vast majority of our students are able to study at their first choice university. This is certainly not due to examinations becoming easier, but hard work on the part of students, who are all too aware of the tough competition they have to face.”

It was an historic as well as successful day at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School (QEGS) in Blackburn, which raised its pass rate to 97.5 per cent.

The first group of girls to take A levels since the school went fully co-educational seven years ago gained a “very encouraging” set of results, achieving the top two grades, A and B, in 75 per cent of the subjects studied.

“This is a ringing endorsement of co-education,” said headmaster Simon Corns.

He added that their success should not detract from boys’ achievements.

Of the subjects taken by all QEGS students, nearly one in three was awarded the top grade, with nearly two-thirds awarded A or B, and 14 teenagers achieved at least As.

At Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School (BRGS) in Waterfoot, the overall pass rate dipped marginally from 98.4 per cent to 97.9 per cent.

But almost half of all marks were As and Bs, and 33 students chalked up three or more A grades, translating to 12.5 per cent of the year group, against a national average of 5 per cent.

Westholme girls excelled once again, with a 100 per cent pass rate in 23 subjects and 77 per cent of all grades at A or B, and 17 pupils had a minimum of three A grades each.

Clitheroe Royal Grammar School chalked up a 99 per cent pass rate.

At Haslingden High School, nearly all of the 31 subjects achieved 100 per cent pass rate.

Headteacher Eve Challinger, said: “We are delighted with our results and with the year on year improvement in value-added achievement.”

East Lancashire’s tertiary colleges enjoyed a bumper year of success.

At Burnley College, 84 per cent of students got high grades, and over 290 students set to go to university.

Principal John Smith said the results were “a credit to young people who are serious about their studies”.

Both Nelson and Colne College and Blackburn College lived up to their recent “outstanding” Ofsted rating.

Nelson and Colne saw 300 students achieving As or Bs, and expects to have equally impressive statistics for its vocational results.

College principal Lyn Surgeon said: “This is the first set of A level results since I took over and each year the results have got better. We are delighted that so many of our students will now be able to go on to university or into employment with confidence as a result.”

Blackburn College’s overall rate was over 98 per cent, plus 100 per cent pass rate in 29 out of 32 subjects, and had a series of outstanding performances.

The colleges were also very proud of their vocational students’ success.

Nelson and Colne College student Emily Long achieved three distinctions – equivalent of two grade As at A level – in her National Diploma in applied science, and St Mary’s College celebrated record successes, with 14 students getting National Diploma distinctions and a further three gaining distinctions for the Extended Sport Diploma, equal to three grade As.

Accrington and Rossendale College did not submit any results for publication, as A levels make up only a small percentage of the vocational programmes students do.

The college will be releasing details of all of their achievements later this month.