New College Celebrates GCSE Exam Success

New College Swindon may be best known for its great A Level and Level 3 Vocational results, but today 1531 learners will be collecting their GCSE and Level 2 qualifications. These are increasingly popular at New College with the number of entries for 2017/18 up by 4.5% on last year.

The College offers a wide range of GCSE subjects to all of its learners; whether they are A-Level or BTEC students trying a new subject or improving their Maths or English grades, adult students taking extra qualifications for interest or to improve their job prospects or learners on the dedicated GCSE programme itself.

73% of entries were in the core subjects of Maths and English, which are critical to CVs, University prospects and job success. Many learners are retaking these subjects to improve their grades. It’s still a real struggle for many, but there were 518 grade 9 to 4/A*-C entries, in English and Maths.

Other GCSE subjects, as well as English and Maths also performed well, with 275 entries achieving grade 9 to 4/A*-C, a 18.7% increase from last year. This was achieved across 22 subjects.

The provision for Pre-16 students continues to bloom and grow. There were 188 GCSE entries amongst this cohort. They achieved a 99% pass rate overall and a 100% pass rate in 18 subjects, including: Art And Design: Photography; Biology; Business; Chemistry; Economics; English Literature; Film Studies; French; Geography; History; Media Studies; Music; Physics; Psychology; Religious Studies; Spanish; Sociology and Statistics.

Students also earned a 100% pass rate across nine Level 2 courses, including: L2 Award in Creative Craft (Construction): L2 Award in Creative Craft (Textiles); L2 Certificate in Creative Craft (Media Make-up); L2 Award in Work Skills; L2 Award Improving Exercise; Health and Nutrition, L2 Award in Food Safety in Catering; OCR L2 Cambridge Technical Diploma in Performing Arts and RSL L2 Certificate in Digital Music Production. Pre-16 students also achieved a 98% pass rate across English and Maths GCSEs.

332 of the entries were for 19+ adult students studying GCSE subjects, with an overall pass rate of 99%.

New College Principal Carole Kitching commented:

“We are absolutely delighted with today’s GCSE results, especially our English and Maths, which continue to go from strength to strength. It’s Government policy that students without a grade 4/C in these subjects need to retake and usually FE Colleges don’t enter students who previously achieved grades 1,2 or E into GCSEs as it’s considered too difficult for them to make the jump to grade 4/C. FE national pass rates at 9-4/A*-C last year were therefore 31.5% for English and 24.8% for Maths. This year, we entered this additional group of students and our pass rates were a fantastic 43.2% in English and 30.7% in Maths; achievements substantially higher than the 2017 national FE rates.

Our learners’ successes reflect their hard work and enthusiasm and is a tribute to the teaching and support provided by all staff here. We congratulate all of our students who received GCSE results today and wish them all the very best for the future.”