Islington Tribune : News: GCSE Results | Highbury Grove

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Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB and PETER GRUNER
Published: 22 August 2008

Highbury Grove pupil Denislav Ivanov

It’s a day of grade expectations for pupils!

Youngsters discover if they have hit the mark as schools warmly praise ‘fantastic’ GCSE results after further improvements

FUTURES were decided and college places secured yesterday (Thursday) when hundreds of Islington students ripped open their envelopes to discover their GCSE results.
Students at nine secondary schools across the borough collected their grades, with several schools claiming outstanding results.
Council education chief Ursula Woolley said: “It’s fantastic news for everybody. We look to be about 56 per cent A*- Cs which is a 6 per cent improvement on last year.
“I’m delighted that all the schools in the borough have shown such strong improvement and for all the pupils who’ve done so well. It’s not the end of the road but it’s a great step on the way to all our children getting a good education.”
Teenagers gathered on the green outside Highbury Grove School to compare, congratulate and commiserate with each other on their grades, while teachers helped some to sign up for the sixth form.
Associate headteacher Henry Jones said the results were “the best ever”, adding: “The students deserve their success.
“They have been a fantastic year group. Many have overcome enormous odds to achieve these results. I am so proud of them all.”
Thirty-two of the school’s pupils achieved more than double the national standard with 10 or more higher-grade passes, with Volkan Karaboyun gaining the most, with 17. Sixty per cent achieved five or more higher grade passes. Although the school would not give out precise figures yesterday, they did say the pupils beat the government target of 30 per cent of students achieving five or more A*-C.
Danny Coyle, deputy head of St Aloysius, said A-C GCSE results were between 63 to 65 per cent of the total and up by 5 per cent on last year.
He added: “We’re very pleased with the results – they just get better each year.”
Mr Coyle said five years ago the school was scraping 33 per cent A-C.
He added: “We got a new headteacher, Tom Mannion, who made an incredible difference to the school.
“Within six months we went from a staggering 33 to 49 per cent A-C.
“It’s all about sorting out bad behaviour and then it all falls into place.”
Islington Green, which reopens as a city academy in September, also celebrated its best-ever results with more than 50 per cent of students gaining five or more GCSE higher grades.
Twenty students achieved 10 or more subjects at grade A*-C and more than 98 per cent of students gained a GCSE qualification.
Headteacher Chris Walford said: “These results are such an achievement and I congratulate staff and students for all their hard work. These results mean our students will be able to gain higher qualifications in the future. They also provide an excellent start for the City of London Academy – Islington.”
And Central Foundation School can now say it is above the national average for boys.
Islington Arts and Media School – recognised earlier this year as a “School of Creativity” – has improved by almost 12 per cent, with the number of pupils gaining five or more passes at grades A*-C rising to almost 55 per cent.

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