Best year for Salford GCSEs

Salford has had its best year for GCSEs with provisional results rising to 76 per cent for pupils achieving 5 or more A* to C grades – around 11 per cent above last year’s national average.
The figures are a nine per cent improvement on the city's 2008 results and puts Salford ahead of the game against this year’s likely national average.
Results for 5 or more A* to C grades including English and Maths for Salford are at around 47 per cent, a seven per cent rise on last year narrowing the gap to the national average considerably.
In all Salford schools the percentage of pupils achieving at least 5 A* to C grades has increased so that two-thirds of the schools have surpassed 70%.
At St Patrick's RC High School every pupil passed 5 or more GCSEs with A* to C grades, the second year running the school has achieved this 100 per cent pass rate.
Four schools in the city have at least 92 per cent of their students gaining 5 or more GCSEs with A* to C grades including St Patrick's RC High School, The Swinton High, St Ambrose Barlow RC High School and Beis Yaakov Jewish High School.
One of this year's most improved Salford high schools is Buile Hill Visual Arts College with a 28 per cent rise in the number of pupils achieving at least five good GCSE grades to 81 per cent, and a rise of 16 per cent for five good GCSEs including maths and English.
Over the past five years Salford's GCSE results have improved dramatically from 38 per cent of pupils obtaining 5 more A* to Cs in 2004 to 76 per cent for 2009.
Almost a half of pupils are also obtaining 5 GCSE grades including maths and English in Salford compared to 32 per cent in 2008.
Councillor John Warmisham, Salford City Council's lead member for children's services said: "Performance has reached a new height for Salford schools today and I'm delighted to see the city's results getting better each year.
"I'd like to congratulate pupils on their grades and for setting such a high standard to the rest of the country.
"None of this would be achievable without the hard work of our teachers, school staff and governors with the support of their parents and carers and I hope these results give pupils the confidence to succeed in whatever they choose to do."