Council’s praise for retaining standards

OLDHAM Council chiefs say Oldham pupils have maintained high standards in this year’s GCSE exams.

Early indications suggest the majority of local schools have improved or maintained their results in gaining five grade A* to C passes (including English and maths) — despite a national sharp drop in English.

Across Oldham as a whole, 56.5 per cent of students achieved at least five of these grades.

This is a slight decrease of 0.4 per cent on last year’s record GCSE results — but Oldham Council says it should rise when the Department for Education confirms adjusted figures this autumn.

Councillor Amanda Chadderton, cabinet member for education and safeguarding, said: “I’d like to send my congratulations to all those who have received their GCSE results.

“We were warned of “turbulent and volatile” results this year following an overhaul of the exam system so to have sustained last year’s record results overall is an enormous credit to the hard work from teachers, staff and pupils.”