Sandwell schools shoot up government league table

Councillor Bob Badham said it reflected the massive work that had gone into improving education in Sandwell.

He said: "Ten years ago the department was in special measures. Now we are shooting up the league table and are above the national average results. This sort of achievement would have been unthinkable ten years ago."

In the Key Stage 4 tables released this week, Sandwell youngsters achieving five or more GCSE passes at A-C grades  including English and Maths, Sandwell has jumped a massive ten places to 128th out of 151 local education authorities.
 
And in the table  for any five GCSEs, the borough is now 52nd - higher than Dudley and Wolverhampton. I

In the table covering the points pupils achieve for all qualifications not just GCSEs, Sandwell comes in at an impressive 24th place out of 151 Local Education Authorities.

 Councillor Badham added: "There has been a tremedous amount of work carried out by the School Improvement Team, the schools and the pupils.

 "I am determined that we give our youngsters the best possible start in life. These figures back up what I have always said that education is very much on the up in Sandwell.

 "There has been improvements year-on-year and as good as these results are we must strive to do even better next year.

"We have shown that with the right leadership and direction we can get up the league table and the aim has got to rise again next year. It should be remembered that we have achieved this against a backdrop that all authorities are under pressure to improve.

"So a jump like this is really fantastic," he added.