Head teacher warns about focus on exams

Leo Winkley, the head at St Peter’s, a private school in the heart of the city saw his pupils celebrate success at both GCSE and A-level in the past week.

More than a third of pupils in the school’s final year - 40 in total - achieved straight A* or A grades at A-level while at GCSE the school’s A* pass rate increased to 34 per cent with 98 per cent of all exams getting A* to C grades. However as the debates rage on nationally about standards, marking and exam grades he told The Yorkshire Post that the country should not lose sight of what education should be about.

He said: “The most important things a school can teach a young person and the most important things a pupil can leave school with are not found on any certificate.

“There are values which we want out young people to develop so that they can exceed their own expectations but also so that they care about the world around them growing up.”

Mr Winkley said ensuring young people developed a set of values, self belief, resourcefulness and a desire to help others could be as important to them for the rest of their lives as the academic attainments achieved during their time in school.

He added: “Much of what goes on in life does not happen under exam conditions. Exams should be a product of the education process, not the purpose.”

On this year’s results he added: “Our school’s commitment to the tougher international GCSE courses, without coursework, has shown that pupils can achieve wonderful results and teachers can be freed to teach from less constraining specifications, with fewer interruptions for testing and measuring along the way.”