General News
“Outstanding” set of GCSE results
Wrekin has announced an “outstanding” set of GCSE results beating the number of top A grades and achievements across the board in 2019, the last time exams were assessed at pre-pandemic levels.
A third of all grades were at 9-7, up three per cent from 2019, while discounting the pandemic years the school also celebrated its best overall pass rate in a decade.
Mr Ben Smith, Deputy Head (Academic), paid tribute to the “resilience and commitment” of the 2023 cohort of pupils recognising they were among the hardest hit by Covid as they faced repeated disruption during some of the most pivotal years in their academic development.
“Our Year 11 students have achieved an outstanding set of GCSE results this year,” added Mr Smith.
“The results are impressive in their own right but, when you take into consideration the disruption of the pandemic, the challenges of online learning, and Ofqual’s recent announcement that 300,000 fewer top GCSE grades would be awarded this year as grading standards return to 2019 levels, they really are exceptional.”
Almost three-quarters of all 808 grades achieved were at grade 5 (a strong pass) and above while the overall pass rate of 90.7 per cent is up more than five per cent on 2019.
“Fortunately, both our pupils and staff responded robustly in the face of this adversity, demonstrating the resilience and commitment needed to ensure that the vast majority reached their academic potential.”
“It is also heartening that the government’s decision to realign this year’s GCSE grading with 2019 has not prevented Wrekinians from improving on the 9-7 grade percentage the school achieved in 2019,” he added.
“As with our A Level results last week, it is encouraging to see that, despite the introduction of centre and teacher-assessed grading at GCSE over the last few years and the other mitigations put into place by examination boards to counteract the impact of the pandemic, Wrekin has in no sense lost sight of what is required for its students to achieve the highest grades. Academic standards remain high as the school exceeds its performance in 2019. There is a palpable ambition throughout the school community to continue to drive learning forward.”
Headteacher Mr Tim Firth said he was immensely proud the results had shown that Wrekin as a non-selective school was not merely teaching children to pass an exam but to strive for the highest level they were capable of.
“Wrekin challenges and improves the best academics while adding value to everyone and these results are a testament to that,” he said.
It’s not too late to join our Sixth Form in September 2023 – contact Ros Curel in our admissions department on admissions@wrekincollege.com or call 01952 265603.
