Best ever GCSE results in Bury

Date published: 28 October 2011

Bury’s young students have posted the borough’s best ever set of GCSE results, according to new government tables.

Their performance in this year’s exams is above the national average in all the major areas and has improved from 2010 in almost all measures.

In the key measure of 5 A*-C GCSEs including English and mathematics, performance has increased from 62.1% in 2010 to 62.5% in 2011, which is 4.2% above the national results. The percentage of pupils gaining 5 A*-C GCSEs increased from 80.4% in 2010 to 80.6% in 2011, which is 1.6% above the national average. In both these areas, the results are the highest ever achieved by Bury schools.

The Government has also published the English Baccalaureate (EB) outcomes. This measures the percentage of pupils who gain A*-C GCSE passes in English, mathematics, two sciences, a humanity (geography or history) and a modern (or ancient) foreign language. In 2010 in Bury, 19.2% of students achieved the “EB” and this has risen to 20.4% in 2011. This places Bury 3.9% above the national performance of 16.5%, a wider gap than last year, and makes Bury the third highest performing authority in the North West.

There is more good news for Bury students, in tables which measure their progress in English and maths across their whole secondary school career. The percentage of pupils making expected progress from the end of primary school (Key Stage 2) to the end of secondary (Key Stage 4) improved in English from 77.5% in 2010 to 81.1% in 2011. This places Bury 10.1% above the national average, and the highest performing authority in the North West for progress in English.

Councillor Nick Parnell, executive member for children and families, said: “This is a fantastic achievement. Bury’s secondary schools have continued to produce excellent results for 16-year-olds in 2011, with performance levels above most other authorities in the North West.

“This is a tribute to schools, teachers, and the hard work put in by the students themselves, and will put our young people on the right road to future success.”