News

Friday, 19 December 2003

College goes to top of the class

AN early Christmas present was in store for a Wakefield college as they topped the tree in the latest round of league tables.

Students at St. Thomas à Becket Catholic Comprehensive College in Sandal celebrated their Key Stage 3 (KS3) results this week which saw 90 per cent of students achieve the benchmark level five in English, 82 per cent in maths and 87 per cent in science.

The results were way over the Wakefield average and the national average with the college also scoring highest on the value added scores which shows the improvement of students from KS2 to KS3. Steve White, deputy headteacher at the college, said: "This excellent set of results reflects the continued hard work and commitment to raise standards of both students and staff at the college. I would like to thank their parents as well as the governor for the support given to the children."

Students at Ossett College came a close second in the tables with 82 per cent of students gaining level five in English, 83 per cent in maths and 81 per cent in science. They were also the second highest achievers in the value added scores.

Wakefield City High College props up the pile with students falling way below the Wakefield and national average. 42 per cent of students gained level five in English, 48 per cent in maths and 41 per cent in science.

Wakefield colleges performed marginally better than their Leeds counterparts scoring one per cent higher in each subject but fell below the national average.

Corporate director of Education John McLeod said: "The Key Stage Three results in Wakefield for 2003 showed a significant advance on previous years and the rate of improvement was faster than the national rate. Wakefield high colleges are now performing at national averages for English and are within one per cent of the national average for maths. These results overall are very good indeed and bode well for GCSE performance in 2005. I congratulate teachers and students on their performance."

This article was taken with permission from the Wakefield Express.