Times top schools at GCSE in full
MINISTERS faced calls to allow all schools to ditch GCSEs in favour of harder courses yesterday, as independent schools chalked up record A* and A grades.
Ed Gould, chairman of the Independent Schools Council (ISC), said that it was illogical that the International GCSE (IGCSE), which many heads believe is a more challenging exam, was not officially recognised.
The call for government recognition was made as it emerged that fee-paying school pupils passed almost six out of ten (57.2 per cent) of all their exams with an A* or A grade at GCSE, nearly three times more than the national average of 19.1 per cent.
The figures revealed that 84.2 per cent achieved five GCSEs including maths, English, a science and a modern foreign language.
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“ISC schools are delivering a rounded education, and in the process they continue to ensure the future supply of mathematicians, scientists and linguists,” Mr Gould said. “It remains illogical that International GCSEs, which are included in these results, are not yet recognised in the national qualifications framework.”
Leading The Times top 1,100 schools for GCSE results is the North London Collegiate School, in Edgware, with 97 per cent of its 100 pupils achieving A* and A grades.
The school beat its rival, St Paul’s School for Girls, for the second time in 11 years. By achieving A* grades in 79.5 per cent of their exams, the girls at the £9,540-a-year north west London school had the highest percentage of top grades.
Bernice McCabe, who has served as the head of a leading grammar school as well as of North London Collegiate, agreed that IGCSEs should be available to all. Her pupils have taken the maths IGCSE since 2004 and will study IGCSEs in science and music.
“We just feel it’s more rigorous and demanding for maths and science content, in particular, and that it’s a better preparation for university study,” she said. “We very much like questions to be more open-ended and in the GCSE we find they are often very structured and walk a pupil to an answer.”
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A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills insisted that GCSEs were “well established, high-quality qualifications”.
The Times table of 1,096 independent and state schools is ranked by the percentage of GCSEs passed at A* and A grades. Results from fee-paying schools were compiled by the Independent Schools Council, with the exception of St John’s College, Cardiff, which submitted its own details.
The top ten schools were dominated by eight independent girls’ schools, with Westminster School in London the only co-educational school.
At number 11, Colyton Grammar School in Devon was the top-scoring state school. Eight state schools made the top 50, of which all are selective.