Cllr Alan Connett

STUDENTS in Devon’s secondary schools have achieved another significant improvement in their benchmark GCSE pass rates.

The percentage of students gaining five or more good A*-C passes at GCSE has gone up by an impressive 2.3 per cent.

Last summer’s results for Devon, published by the Government today, show 51.8 per cent passing five good GCSEs, including English and maths, compared to 49.5 per cent in 2008. That figure was itself up 2.9 per cent on the 2007 results of 46.6 per cent.

Devon’s figure of 51.8 per cent compares with a national figure for all schools in England of 49.8 per cent.

Devon’s schools now sit at 64th out of 151 local authorities despite being 148th out of 151 for funding from the Government.