High schools in GCSE turnaround

SECONDARY schools have shown just what they are capable of, the Education minister said yesterday following a significant improvement on last year's disastrous GCSE results.

More than 65% of students achieved the UK benchmark of five GCSEs or Level 2 equivalent qualifications, including English and maths, at grade C or above – an increase of almost 15% on last year.

And all of Guernsey's schools hit the new UK target of a 40% pass rate at that standard.

Members of the former Education board were forced to resign after it was revealed that two high schools fell below the UK target of 35% last year – St Sampson's achieved a 20.5% and La Mare de Carteret a 11.5% pass rate.

But both schools showed marked improvement this time around with St Sampson's hitting 44.3% and La Mare 42.0%.