York Guides

James Reed Education Correspondent (Yorkshire Post)

INDEPENDENT schools criticised the GCSE exam yesterday as Leeds Grammar emerged with the best results among Yorkshire's fee-paying schools.

The 1,300 place all boys school was 38th in a national league table of fee-paying schools published by the Independent Schools Council, three places above Eton College.
St Peter's School and Bootham School, both in York, along with Sheffield High School and Hymers College, in Hull, also made it into the top 100.
Across the country 57 per cent of the exams taken in ISC member schools were awarded A* or A grades at GCSE this year.
Jonathan Shephard, ISC general secretary, said: "The GCSE is a valuable test for the broad range of pupils. We do, however, continue to have concerns about the usefulness of some coursework and the GCSE's capacity to stretch pupils at all levels of ability."
Dr Martin Stephen, of St Paul's School, in London, said: "GCSE has always been confused about its role. Is it a leaving certificate representing a guarantee of minimum competence? Is it a qualifier for further and higher education? By trying to do both, it has managed not to do either terribly well."