On the results of exams taken in 2013-2014, Wolverhampton came 145th out of 150 districts* in England, with 46.4% of 15-16 year olds gaining five or more GCSE's at grades A* to C including English and Maths, the standard by which all schools and education authorities are measured. The figure for the previous year was 61.0%, putting the City 72nd.
City Conservative leader Councillor Wendy Thompson said that this was the biggest drop for any local education authority apart from Milton Keynes. "I am dying to know what Labour's excuse is this time. The tragedy is not only the young people who are being failed by Labour's refusal to encourage the spreading of best practice between high-performing schools, but also the fact that our GCSE results were one area of the City's education portfolio that was helping to add most value to children's school experience, and their outcome. Now, it seems that even that has evaporated. Were it not for the Girls' High School, we would probably have come bottom altogether."
Changes to counting methods this year have affected individual schools' results, but Councillor Thompson insisted that the figures were cause for alarm. "Something has gone very severely wrong with our education system in Wolverhampton. Ofsted pinpointed the lack of sharing of expertise across schools and a lack of support to schools in their battle to raise standards. That has to be where we start in turning this situation round for the future of our young people.