Tower Hamlets GCSE results reach national average but slip in English and Maths

GCSE results in Tower Hamlets reached the national average last year but only half of students achieved A* to C grades in English and Maths.

Figures for every secondary school in England released by the Department for Education earlier this week showed three quarters of 15 and 16-year-olds in the East End got five or more A* to C grades.

Girls fared slightly better, with 78 per cent gaining the grades needed for A Level compared to 72 per cent of boys.

Figures have been improving year-on-year since 2006.

Five years ago, just over half the teenagers in Tower Hamlets got the five target grades.

GCSE results in Tower Hamlets are also higher than neighbouring boroughs Newham and Hackney overall, but slip under when it comes to attainment in English and Maths.

Hackney had 55 per cent of pupils getting the required grades in the two core subjects in 2009/10 compared to 52 per cent of Tower Hamlets students.

Parents can compare individual schools’ performances through the data.

Tower Hamlets has 15 state secondary schools and six independent schools.

London East Academy, a paid-for Islamic school for 7 to 18-year-olds, topped the league table with 96 per cent of pupils getting five A* to C grades.

As for state-run schools, Sir John Cass’s Foundation and Red Coat school in Stepney Way came highest with three quarters of students getting the grades.

Independent school Mazahirul Uloom school in Mile End received the lowest score with only 30 per cent achieving the target marks.

George Green School in Mudchute was worst for nonattendance.

It recorded 8 per cent absence in 2009/10.