Few Brent schools show GSCE improvement

All but a handful of Brent's schools have improving GCSE results, according to the Government's figures released last week.

An impressive 85 per cent of secondary schools saw an increase in the number of 15-year-old pupils achieving five or more A* to C grades.

And only three of the borough's 19 educational institutes saw a slump in the number of students achieving the top grades in August last year.

John Christie, director of the children and families service, said: "We are all very proud of Brent schools, which perform exceptionally well against regional and national targets.

"Brent is in the top tier of school results despite being one of the most deprived boroughs in London and this yearÕs improvement is a wonderful tribute to staff, pupils and parents."

Alperton Community School, in Stanley Avenue, Wembley, saw the biggest jump in results with 13 per cent more teenagers getting A* to C grades, in subjects that included English and maths.

Copland School, in Cecil Avenue, Wembley, saw a 12 per cent increase, with 51 per cent of students falling into the category in 2008, compared to 39 per cent in 2007.

Sir Alan Davies, headteacher of Copland, said: "We did very well and shot up last year so are very pleased.

"A lot of effort is put in to improve studentsÕ English and Maths results and we run a Saturday school as part of this.

"We also have appointed intervention support monitors to help students improve their grades."

On average 55 per cent of Brent students achieved the five A* to C grades which is above the national average of 47 per cent.

Islamic boysÕ school, Brondesbury College, saw it results fall by 11 per cent, but it did set its standards extremely high in 2007 when all its pupils managed to achieve five or more A* to C grades.

The most successful was Brent's all-Hindu Swaminarayan School, which achived a clean sweep with 100 per cent of pupils getting five or more A to Cs.

Capital City Academy in Doyle Gardens, Willesden had one of the lowest percentages of successful pupils but has seen a steady improvement in grades since it was taken out of special measures in 2005.

Principal Philip O'Hear, said: "We are pleased that our steady progress has been maintained with our GCSE results.

"We are rapidly closing the gap between our results and the national and Brent averages."