Top grades drop across the county (From Witney Gazette)

Top grades drop across the county

10:30am Friday 17th August 2012 in News

NATIONALLY, the proportion of A-Levels awarded at A or A* grade fell for the first time in more than 20 years.

Figures show 26.6 per cent of A-Level results were in the top two grades – down from 27 per cent last year.

Although girls continued to outperform boys for getting A grades, boys edged ahead at A*s – eight per cent compared with 7.9 per cent. Figures from the Joint Council for Qualifications showed that the overall pass rate rose again for the 30th successive year.

The results also revealed a continuing fall in the numbers of pupils taking modern languages – with French, Spanish and German dropping by 5.2 per cent, 3.4 per cent and 7.6 per cent respectively.

But there was an increase in the numbers taking maths and science subjects.

Almost one in four of the A* grades awarded this year went to students in the South East.

Private school pupils were almost three times as likely to get an A* than those from state schools, and twice as likely to get at least an A, the figures showed.