Provisional GCSE results, released on 16 October 2018 by the Department of Education, illustrate that 1% more students in Suffolk are achieving the expected standards in English and Maths compared with last year.
There has been a change to the way that English and Maths GCSEs are graded. Results are now graded from 9 to 1, (previously A to G) with 9 being the highest and 1 being the lowest. The expected standard for pupils to achieve is now a grade 4 and above (previously a C grade and above), with grade 5 considered a ‘strong pass’.
Suffolk is now in line with national figures with 64% of students in the county achieving the standard pass in English and Maths. Suffolk is also in the top half of all authorities for achieving the threshold of grade 5 in English and Maths. Suffolk has risen by 40 places in national league tables for this measure, to 43 out of 151 authorities.
GCSE progress remains above average and has seen a steep increase this year for Suffolk pupils, with a Progress 8 score of +0.07, compared with the national figure of -0.03. This figure also puts Suffolk at number 1 among our statistical neighbours (11 other local authorities with similar geographic and social structures).
Progress 8 measures how well GCSE students, of all abilities, have progressed since age 11 by comparing them with students who achieved similar levels in Key Stage 2 across the country.