Grades triumph for Yorkshire’s private schools

Queen Elizabeth Grammar (QEGS), a boys’ school in Wakefield, was the highest performing private school in the region with 75 per cent of its exams achieving the top two grades.

It was the only school in Yorkshire to feature in the top 100 in the country in the figures released by the Independent Schools’ Council today.

Wakefield Girls High – which is part of the same grammar school foundation as QEGS – achieved a similar level of A* and A passes in this summer’s exams, but the school opted not to be included in the league tables, according to the ISC.

St Peter’s School, in York, was the top-performing private school in North Yorkshire in the tables with two-thirds of exams resulting in A* or A grades.

Hymers College in Hull had the highest level of A* and A passes of the three private schools in the east of the region with 67 per cent.

Birkdale School, in Sheffield, was South Yorkshire’s best performing independent school at GCSE with 69 per cent of exams being awarded either an A* or an A grade.

Nationally 31.4 per cent of exam entries resulted in A* passes – the seventh year in a row this figure has risen.

QEGS headmaster David Craig said: “This year we were neck and neck with the girls’ school.

“It is absolutely great for the boys to be named as the best in Yorkshire.

“It was a very good cohort and I would put our success down to the boy-friendly teaching which we have here.

“It is the tried and tested stuff that we have been doing for the past 400 years.

“QEGS has been here since 1591 and it is the same approach that is successful. Instilling respect, discipline, a competitive environment, playing rugby.

“We have a traditional approach allied to a modern day pedagogy.”

Mr Craig also stressed the importance of giving young people the chance to excel outside the classroom.

“I say to staff that we are not an academic hothouse here but we are a power-house.

“We don’t just have boys doing exams. We have sent 90 kids on a trip to Peru and 60 boys are in South Africa on a rugby trip.”

St Peter’s headmaster Leo Winkley praised pupils, teachers and parents for the school’s GCSE success. He said: “We are very pleased to learn that we are the top school in North Yorkshire – all our pupils worked very hard and our teaching staff have inspired some strong performances across the subjects.

“Our mathematicians and scientists performed particularly well and the school has also won the 2011 Good Schools Guide GCSE award for the best point score at an English independent school for boys taking additional science at GCSE.

“At a time when many schools are moving to single science at GCSE, we have found that our pupils, in particular boys, thrive on studying the sciences in this format, allowing them to pursue a broad range of subjects at GCSE, before specialising at A-level.

“Our excellent track record at A-level suggests that our scientists are certainly not losing out by following the dual award.”

Magdalen College, in Oxford, was named the best-performing private school in the country at GCSE. The all-boys school saw an incredible 99.52 per cent of exams score an A* or A in this summer’s GCSEs.

The school’s master, Dr Tim Hands, praised the GCSE qualification for testing young people in a broad range of subjects.

Dr Hands said it was “absurd” to rubbish all the hard work put in by young people to GCSEs.

He said: “The fact is that in the old days you could do well in the subjects that you were naturally good at and secure a place at a top university.

“That’s no longer the case. You won’t get into a top university unless you have good grades across the board.

“This means working at your weaknesses and it makes the modern system a test of character, determination, and stamina.

“The truth is that GCSEs are a better and broader set of tests, and more meaningful to employers and universities... Whereas admission to university in my time was a matter of what you’re good at, now it’s a matter of working at what you’re bad at.”

Dr Hands said employers and universities were more likely to be interested in candidates who knew their weaknesses and were determined to work at them than those who only worked on the areas they were good at.