GCSE results are Borough’s best

This year 47% of students gained five or more GCSE’s including English and Maths, compared to 43% in 2008 and 42% in 2007. 65% of the students who gained five or more GCSE qualifications are in the A* to C grade boundary.

While Rochdale is improving the success rate, it is still behind Heywood (48.8%), Middleton (54.8%), and the Pennines (56.4%) who have more students gaining five or more GCSE grades between A*-C, including English and Maths. The results mean the borough is closing the gap on the national average and is now only 2.5% behind overall. This 5.3% improvement in GCSE results exceeds the national average of 1.4%. 

Councillor Zulfiqar Ali, Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families said:

"Congratulations are due to all these young people … nearly 1,700 who achieved such good results. This is a day of celebration for students and their teachers. There has been good performance overall across most subjects including mathematics and languages. I would like to thank the teachers, parents and other family members who have supported this success.”

Sue Brown, Head of Schools, Rochdale Borough Council said:

“Having spoken to some of our schools today I know there is a great feeling of elation amongst our young people. The results are still provisional however, so we cannot do a full school-by-school analysis yet, but the overall upward trend is clear. Once again, we have seen a welcome increase in results at GCSE. This is evidence of the hard work of the students and the continued dedication of their teachers. I congratulate young people for their achievements today … we should all take pride in these brilliant results.”