Fleetwood independent school, Rossall is celebrating a 100% pass rate in this year’s GCSE examinations (A* -G grades) and has performed better than the national average for A* passes with a figure of 9% against a national average 7.3%. However, along with other schools, it has noticed a marginal drop in the number of students achieving 5 passes with A* – C grades including maths and English, which is believed due to exam boards marking more harshly this year following criticism from some quarters that exams are getting easier. The School’s 86.3% for 5 passes A* -C including maths and English is only 1.8% down on 2011.
Overall, the school fared well this year, despite a number of pupils from overseas sitting GCSE examinations in their second language. The inclusion of students from over 30 countries worldwide hasn’t dented the school’s performance in core subjects though, with 21.5% of the cohort earning A* in maths; a performance mirrored for A grades. In English 6% of students achieved the coveted A* grade and 32.6% achieved A grades. Sciences were also on the up with 25.8% of students managing to attain A* grades in the subject.
Commenting on the performance, Rossall School’s deputy headmaster, Anton Maree said: “With a 100% performance across the eleven subjects available here, I’d have to say that I’m pleased with our students’ efforts this year. It’s been quite remarkable, especially as we believe exams board have been a little less generous this year in the marking process.
“As our GCSE cohort is divided evenly between boarders and day pupils it’s encouraging to see all achieving to a similar standard. Our boarders are helped greatly by their friendships with our local students. In turn, our local students seem to flourish because of the additional time they spend on campus joining the boarders for prep and after school activities. It’s a formula that appears to work well for our children and shows in the results.”