Mike Hedges AM welcomes an annual report collated from examination bodies on the results of external examinations taken by pupils aged 15 or 17, which includes GCSE and A Levels by subject and which highlights strong exam results for pupils in Swansea.

Mike said…  ‘I am so pleased to see these results confirm that Swansea pupils are achieving great things. I know from vising schools that results have been good this year but it is marvelous to have them put into context.

I congratulate the pupils on their results and Swansea Council for leading the schools through this period of improvement.’

This report provides the earliest results of external examinations taken by pupils in Year 11 (“Key Stage 4”) or pupils aged 17 at the start of the academic year in schools in Wales in 2015/16, as well as final information for previous years.

This report contains figures which have been calculated on a different basis to previous years, mainly due to the recommendations of the Review of Qualifications. These changes in methodology mean that data for 2016 is not directly comparable to previous years. Full details of the methodological changes are in the release. The headline data for 2016 is presented for pupils in year 11. However, tables 1-3 also include data for pupils aged 15 in 2016 on a most comparable basis, where we have tried to take into account the effect of some of the changes. It is not possible to account for the change in the maximum size of non-GCSEs or any associated behavioral change in schools but the data for pupils aged 15 is the most comparable to previous years and should be used for comparison purposes.

None of the changes affect data for pupils aged 17.

The figures show 22.8% of city pupils gained A* and A grades in their exams, which compares very well to 19.2% of those in Wales as a whole.
Indications show that the Level 2 Threshold with Language/Maths has improved from 59.1% in 2014 to around 62.3% in 2015.  This is the largest annual increase seen for this measure in Swansea.  This indicator is the most important performance measure for key stage 4.  To achieve this indicator, students need to achieve at least five C grades or higher at GCSE (or equivalent), including mathematics and English and/or Welsh First Language.

More than 90% of students achieved the higher grades of A* to C in 24 different subjects – up from 19 in 2014.

Meanwhile, the top grades of A* and A were awarded to over a third of all entrants in 26 subjects – up from 21 subjects last year.

Swansea GCSE students also surpassed their counterparts in terms of the number of them gaining the higher grades in full course subjects. The figures show 76.8% of entrants here scored A* to C grades, a rise on last year’s figure of 73.4% and well above the comparable figure for all-Wales for 2015 of 66.6%.

In Swansea, a total of 17,181 full course GCSE entries in summer 2015 were made in 58 different subject/syllabuses. In addition, there were 2,225 entries in 15 different subjects for GCSE short courses.

In no fewer than 51 of the 73 different subjects/syllabuses, all entrants from Swansea schools achieved grades A* to G – a 100% pass rate. A pass rate of 90% or better was also recorded for 20 other subjects.

In the key core subjects of English Language and Mathematics, the Swansea overall results are also well above the national results.

For Mathematics, the Swansea results were A*-A 23.9%, A*-C 68.5% and A*-G 99.3%. The equivalent all-Wales figures for 2015 for Maths are 9.9%, 47.5% and 96.5%.

For English Language, the Swansea results were A*-A 15.7%, A*-C 64.4% and A*-G 99.5%. The equivalent all-Wales figures for 2015 for English are 11.9%, 59.7% and 99.1%.