w w w. t h i s i s c ro y d o n t o d a y .co.uk CCR-EO1-S2 Advertiser, F r i d a y,February 3,2012 21 Exam results CROYDON are best yet GOLD BUYER Borough shows i t s b i g g e s t improvement By Gareth Davies taining those standards is harder OPEN 7 DAYS g a re t h . d a v i e s @ e s s n m e d i a . c o . u k than getting there in the first p l a c e. C ROY D O N ’S schools have shown “But in no way am I happy the biggest improvement in their about it.” GCSE results since new bench- Mr Parrish then aimed a wry 1, DERBY ROAD, marks were introduced in 2006. swipe at the performance tables. The number of students who “I think they are OK if taken in achieved the Government’s ex- context,”he said. pected standard of five or more “Nearly half our pupils got at CROYDON CRO 3SY A*-Cs, including English and least 5 B grades, including Eng- maths, has risen by more than six lish, and 66 per cent got a B or per cent and is now higher than above in English. the national average. “So the icing isn’t there but the (OPP WEST CROYDON STATION) Although more than a third of cake is incredibly solid. Yes, it’s pupils still leave school without “FRUITCAKE CONSISTENCY”: quite a difficult cake –it’s more of five good GCSEs, the overall pic- Archbishop Tenison’s head a tough fruitcake than a light, ture is one of marked improve- Richard Parrish CCRdb200308B 12 airy sponge –but we’re confident ment, with 61 per cent of students we ’ll improve next year.” achieving the benchmark, com- ted to unexpectedly poor marks in Many other schools posted pared to 54.4 per cent last year and an English creative writing paper their best ever results, with Quest 40.6 per cent in 2006. as the cause of a three per cent Academy up from 23 per cent at 41 Councillor Tim Pollard, cabinet drop in its passes overall. per cent, though still only just IF IT’S GOLD OR SILVER member for children, young The school, which is consid- over next year’s minimum target people and learners said: “I’m ab- ering adopting some form of of 40 per cent. solutely delighted. academy status, is now subject to Virgo Fidelis was Croydon’s “Virtually all our schools are a council improvement plan. most improved school, with the clearly improving the standard of Following several years of im- number of pupils reaching the education on offer for Croydon’s pressive results, Archbishop Ten- required standard increasing WE BUY IT young people.” i s o n’s High School, in Selborne from 54 per cent to 74 per cent. The No schools in the borough fell Road, was the only other school school was in the top 2 per cent in below the Government’s target of which failed to improve, with 69 the country for its maths results. 35 per cent of pupils achieving five per cent of pupils achieving five Head teacher Sister Bernadette or more A*-C grades, including good GCSEs, eight per cent less said: “We ’re very proud of our English and maths and Croydon than in 2010. performance in maths, but I think NO ONE PAYS MORE surpassed both the national av- Head teacher Richard Parrish I’m most pleased with our overall erage (58.9 per cent) and rate of was philosophical about the res- results because to have improved improvement (5.4 per cent). ults. He said: “We only have 100 so much is phenomenal. Addington High, in New pupils in each year group. If even Croydon also had success at A- Addington, came bottom of the a small number have particular level with the average point score ALL LOCAL QUOTES BEATEN league table, posting the exact dif ficulties then it can have a big per candidate at 712.7 from 693.3, minimum requirement. effect. Also, our starting point in line with the rest of London but Head teacher Tim Davies poin- was high and sometimes main- below the national average. League table results: Better off pupils C ro y d o n ’s GCSE league table (percentage of pupils achieving WE BUY GOLD,SILVER, five or more A*-C grades including English and maths) 1. Whitgift School, South Croydon 100% more successful 2. Trinity School, Shirley 98% 3. Croydon High School, South Croydon 97% NEWLY published league tables also reveal, for 4. Old Palace of John Whitgift School, Croydon 97% the first time, the significant gap between the PLATINUM & DIAMONDS 5. Royal Russell, Croydon 95% b o ro u g h ’s most disadvantaged pupils and their 6. Coloma Convent Girls’School 90% better-off classmates. 7. Al-Kair School, East Croydon 88% Figures show in some schools pupils in care 8. Shirley High School, Shirley 71% 9. Archbishop Tenison’s High School 69% or on free school meals are considerably less 10. Brit School, South Norwood 68% likely to gain five good passes at GCSE. WE PAY CASH 11. St Andrew’s High, Waddon 65% At Quest Academy, in South Croydon, only 12. Harris Academy Purley, South Croydon 61% 33 per cent of pupils on free school meals or in 13. Oasis Academy Shirley Park 51% care left school with five A*-C grades, 14. St Mary’s Catholic High School, West Croydon 51% including English and maths. This is 15. Edenham High, Shirley 51% NO ONE PAYS MORE. compared to 45 per cent of pupils from more 16. Oasis Academy Coulsdon, Coulsdon 49% 17. Archbishop Lanfranc, Croydon 48% affluent backgrounds. 18. The Quest Academy, Croydon 41% The dichotomy was most notable at 19. Cambridge Tutors College, Croydon 40% Edenham High, in Shirley, with a 24 per cent 20. Addington High School, New Addington 35% gap between pupils of different backgrounds. Small victory for cinema campaign £11 A GRAM WITH A DEMONSTRATION outside Croydon Town Hall on Monday urging the council to look again at the closure of the David Lean Cinema turned into a quiet cel- e b r at i o n . THIS ADVERT Adrian Winchester, chairman of the Save the David Lean cam- paign handed a 1,400-name pe- tition to shadow cabinet member for culture and sport, Councillor Maggie Mansell. CALL US NOW ON The petition asked the council CINEMA CAMPAIGN: Councillor Maggie Mansell received the to investigate any constructive petition from Adrian Winchester CRDC20120130F-006_C proposals for reviving the 68-seat- er cinema at the Clocktower in cillor Sara Bashford, the cabinet number of people who signed the Katharine Street. member for culture and sport, has petition. The petition was later formally announced the council is pre- “I think Monday was a low-key 07908 721788 presented to the full council meet- pared to look at working with a celebration for us. ing by Mrs Mansell. private sector or social enterprise “We asked the council to look at The cinema was closed last year to reopen facilities at the Clock- constructive proposals and they as part of the council’s overall tower, including the cinema. appear to be doing that. T here budget cutting exercise. Mr Winchester said after the does seem to have been a step www.croydongoldbuyer.com In the last few weeks, Coun- meeting: “I am delighted with the fo r w a rd . ”