City 'moving forward' after climbing off bottom place

___________

League tables in full

Hear education correspondent John Roberts debate the issuesListen now

Or download to your MP3 player (right-click and choose Save Target As...)

More schools coverage from the Yorkshire Post

___________

Hull is now ranked second bottom in a table of England's 149 education authorities measuring how many pupils reached the expected level at GCSE last summer. The city's schools had just over a third of pupils achieving five good GCSE passes including English and maths – with only pupils in Knowsley, Merseyside, achieving poorer results.

Yesterday's results did, however, reflect an improvement on last year's tables which showed less than a third of the city's 16-year-olds making the grade – ranking Hull bottom across the country.

The increase in pupils achieving five good GCSE passes including English and maths from 29.6 per cent in 2008 to 36.9 per cent in last summer's exams means Hull is now the fourth most improved council in the country.

The city's council has launched the Hull Challenge to raise standards at nine secondary schools which have delivered results below the Government target of getting 30 per cent of pupils to achieve five good GCSEs, including English and maths.

Judith Harwood, the council's head of learning, leisure and achievement, said: "Our main aim this year was to show a set of improved results that are sustainable into the future, and we believe that we have done this.

"We can now move forward with confidence and continue to improve GCSE results for all pupils in Hull."

She added: "Our pledges set out under the Hull Challenge show how ambitious we are and that we are taking serious steps to improve secondary education in the city and that we have set out where we want to be by 2012."

Coun Christine Randall, the authority's portfolio holder for education and children's services, added: "Hull is always highlighted for the wrong reasons when it comes to GCSE league tables but I am confident that the improvements we have made this year are sustainable into the future and that we can be positive that this will continue.

"It is down to the hard work and dedication of teachers, school staff, headteachers and governors that standards in our schools continue to rise and that we are improving the lives of young people in this city."

Overall GCSE results also increased in Hull with 65.4 per cent achieving five A* to C grades – narrowing the gap on the national 70 per cent average.