We are top of the class, says Council Leader

Students at Kingsway Park celebrating their GCSE results

​Exam success across the borough has really taken off with an impressive 747 students sitting A-levels this year.

With that number of entries comes an even more impressive number of excellent results.

Rochdale has performed better than the national pass rate (97.9%) which went down 0.2% on the previous year. Provisional results show that 98.3% of students achieved grades A*-E, up 3.5% on last year.

New marking criteria for GCSEs this year has made it almost impossible for national comparisons or else I am sure we'd be cooing about similar successes.

Do not be fooled that these results are a flash in the pan or some kind of fluke. Far from it, this is all as a result of everyone – teachers, the council and pupils - working together for a common goal.

I set our education staff a target a few years ago: get our results above the national average by 2017.

They hav achieved that and surpassed it.

Our fantastic students should be very proud of all their hard work. To be bucking the national trend is a great achievement for the borough so a huge thanks to the students, staff at our colleges and sixth forms, parents and guardians who all work hard to support our students.

Council staff also deserve praise for demonstrating a continued determination to improve the lives of all our young people.

Far from resting on our collective laurels, we will all continue to work in partnership to improve exam results even more.

I know it is a cheesy cliché to say that our children are our future, but supporting them has to be a council priority – Rochdale's future is in their hands.