Monmouthshire’s GCSE Students Celebrate Another Increase In Attainment

Against a national picture of stability Monmouthshire’s GCSE students are celebrating increases in their GCSE performance. Across the county pupils from all four secondary schools – Abergavenny’s King Henry VIII, Caldicot, Chepstow and Monmouth – have exceeded performances across Wales as a whole and this year’s results compare favourably to last year’s achievements when Monmouthshire was the top performing authority in Wales across a number of indicators. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

68.2 % of students achieved the “gold standard” of five GCSEs A*-C, including English or Welsh with mathematics, an increase on last year’s performance of 66.8%. There were also further increases in the number of students achieving five good GCSEs (92.9% compared to 91.2% last year) meaning more Monmouthshire pupils than ever before leave their compulsory education with the opportunity to pursue their own ambitions. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

No student in any of the four schools left without a qualification and the number of pupils attaining the very top grades increased compared to last year with 21.9% of students achieving the top A* and A. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

Caldicot consolidated last year’s strong level 2 inclusive scores with 69% of pupils again achieving the standard. The number of students achieving five GCSEs increased to 97.3% a rise of 1.6% percentage points compared to the previous year. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

Having seen significant gains across all indicators last year Chepstow Comprehensive saw over 95% of students achieve five or more GCSEs with close to 90% achieving five graded A*-C. Nearly 90 students achieved the level 2 inclusive threshold, with a similar amount achieving the Core Subject Indicator. Over 70% of students achieved an A*-C grade in maths. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

King Henry VIII School continues to make excellent progress: this year the number of students achieving the level 2 threshold including English and maths rose again to 70% from 63.5% last year. The school saw very strong performance in students gaining the highest grades of A*/A with 23.6% achieving this benchmark, an increase of over 5% when compared to last year. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

Monmouth Comprehensive maintained its perfect level 1 threshold of 100% of students gaining five GCSEs graded A*-G. They also increased the percentage of students achieving the level 2 threshold inclusive of English and maths to 70%. In a key area of focus Monmouth students achieved 26% A*/A at GCSE. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

County Councillor Liz Hacket Pain, Monmouthshire’s cabinet member with responsibility for education was very pleased with the results. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

Councillor Hacket Pain said : “Once again the GCSE results are a timely reminder of how hard our students and their teachers work and this year shows that the changes, developments and improvements in our four schools are delivering better results than ever before. I know that there will be many proud students and parents in Monmouthshire today. They can now progress into their chosen path, be it in education or in work with their heads high, full of confidence.” ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

Chief Officer for Children and Young People, Sarah McGuinness added: “I am so pleased to see another strong set of results across Monmouthshire – they are a testament to the teaching in our schools and the hard work of the students. I am particularly pleased to see that every student left their compulsory education with a qualification meaning that whatever students choose in the future they can do so knowing that they have a strong base from which they can build and fulfil their potential.” ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​