Schools Blamed For "Wholly Unacceptable" GCSE Results

By Isle of Wight Radio Reporter Thu, 23 August 2012 3:13PM

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Two colleges and an academy on the Isle of Wight have been blamed for dragging down the Island's performance in GCSE exams this year.

Carisbrooke College, Medina College and Sandown Bay Academy have all seen lower results for students gaining 5 a* to c grades including English and Maths compared to 2011.

Sandown dropped 10 percentage points, Carisbrooke dropped almost 16 percentage points and Medina dropped the most by almost 20 percentage points.

Overall, the Isle of Wight has seen a drop, from 49.5 percent in 2011 to 44.2 percent in 2012.

Click here for a full table of the GCSE results

According to Janet Newton, Isle of Wight Council deputy director for schools and education "the results at Carisbrooke, Medina and Sandown are simply not good enough and are the sole reason why the Isle of Wight has seen a reduction in the numbers of students achieving five or more A* to C grades."

Dawn Cousins, Isle of Wight Council cabinet member responsible for education and children's services said, "For Carisbrooke to drop almost 16 percentage points, Medina nearly 20 percentage points and Sandown ten percentage points in a year is wholly unacceptable and we will be seeking urgent meetings with the providers as a matter of priority."

There's better news for the other schools.

Christ the King College has seen 77.1 percent of students achieve five or more A* - C grades including English and Maths, which is a record for the Isle of Wight and also places the college well above last year's national average.

Ryde Academy's results rose almost nine percentage points compared to last year with 50.6 percent of students achieving five or more A* - C grades inc English and Maths.

Cowes Enterprise College saw a slight rise, improving from 48 percent last year to 49.2 per cent in 2012.

Ryde Private School's results are the best ever with 52% of entries A* or A grades and 96% of pupils achieving 5 A*- C grades, including Maths and English.

If you received your GCSE exam results today and want some advice, the Isle of Wight Council’s participation team offers independent and impartial support to all young people during the exam results period. The team can be found at 29 High Street, Newport, P030 1SS and can be contacted on (01983) 525927.

The team operate a ‘drop-in’ service where no appointment is necessary. The opening times are Monday to Thursday 9.30am to 12.30pm then 1pm to 4pm and Friday 9.30am to 12.30pm then 1pm to 4pm.

2 people like this.
- Jim Clews Of course! Nothing whatsoever to do with massive school reorganisation.
  
  Yesterday at 15:33 · · 9
- Valentine Hayward Just proves, to my mind, that these schools are too large and our children are falling through the cracks of a terrible education system. They had a chance to maybe rectify this system, but instead went over to a two tier system that is only going to make it worse!!
  
  23 hours ago · · 7
- Jen Beeson Hear hear valentine
  
  22 hours ago ·
- Richard Nutman I dunno.. results have been going up for years on end. What goes up must come down as they say.
  
  21 hours ago ·
- Kevin Blanch i dont no, what can you do? if all the schools and colledges do really well they get slated for making the test tooo easy, they cant win
  
  21 hours ago ·
- Kevin Downer Wonder why? something to do messing around with our school system I would expect!
  
  21 hours ago via Mobile ·
- Elaine Westhead Coming from up North where there has always been a two tier system and GCSE results have never been a problem I cannot see what the problem is on the Island. Or is going to a two tier system just being used as an excuse for generally poor teaching. My daughter, due to her being bullied, had to change school in her final year. The curriculum was completely different but she knuckled down and worked hard passed all her exams! So to use changing to a two tier system for poor results is in my mind a very poor excuse.
  
  21 hours ago via Mobile · · 1
- Sarah Green Results are down nationally for the first time ever so it is not just the Island. The new school structure maybe to blame but there were always going to be teething troubles.
  
  21 hours ago via Mobile · · 1
- Valentine Hayward I understand about blaming the change from three tier to two tier can be seen as just an excuse, teaching has a great deal to do with it as well.
  My daughter is on her THIRD primary school due to bullying (mentioning no names), we were told she was average, so as parents we were quite happy, at her new school we are told she is two years behind at least. So for the rest of her school year the pressure has been on us to drag her scores up. Yes I did say scores, the teachers seem to be more concerned with test scores than teaching our children to have a love of learning and having a well rounded education. This in turn has made our child in to someone who is still being bullied by other children but now believes that the teachers think she is stupid!
  This country, parents AND teachers need to have a radical rethink before more children are lost within this education system.
  
  21 hours ago via Mobile · · 2
- Ian Marsh It's the first year we've been able to see the effect of Christ the King College on other schools. If it has retained all the bright children that previously would have gone to Carisbrooke and Medina, then no wonder those schools have suffered.
  
  8 hours ago via Mobile ·
- Sharon Hewitt Jones All the "bright" children that were "retained" by christ the king are not the ones that have just sat their gcse exams
  
  4 hours ago ·