Press Release Rhymney C.S. Thursday 25^th August 2016

Rhymney Comprehensive School achieve their best ever GCSE results !!

5 A* - Cs (Level 2+ performance indicator) – 48%

The pupils, parents, staff, and Governing body of Rhymney Comprehensive school were celebrating the publication of the school’s annual GCSE exam results today. This year’s GCSE pupils have performed better than any previous year group in the school’s history. Indeed, they have beaten 2015’s results by an incredible 6%.

Rhymney also had an impressive 48% of pupils achieve the Core subjects of English, Maths and Science, and 67% of the cohort gain the level 2 threshold.

The results are a cause for celebration, an achievement that has left Mr R. P. Davies the Headteacher very pleased –

“Rhymney Comprehensive school has again returned extraordinary exam results at Advanced, and GCSE level. This years cohort GCSE results have surpassed our government distributed targets, and beaten our previous best ever exam performance.

Achieving 67% for the number of pupils gaining 5A* to Cs (or level 2 threshold) is a tremendous level of achievement, especially when one considers we are located in an area of below average socioeconomic income – an indicator accepted by the Welsh government as normally a barrier to educational achievement.

The cohort of pupils who have just left their compulsory schooling have performed very well, and deserve all the plaudits they will undoubtedly receive from parents, family and friends.

The fact that this year’s batch of young people have done well in the core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science is really encouraging and reflects all the hard work put in throughout their studies by pupils and staff. I am sure the number of pupils achieving the highest ever core subject indicator and level 2+measure (5A* to C including English and Maths) is reflective of the decision we as a school made several years ago to increase the resources invested in these areas of the curriculum.

This year group have also benefited from a number of measures introduced in order to raise attainment at the school. This includes an extensive pupil tracking system, one to one Assertive Mentoring, and a comprehensive Easter revision programme where pupils received specialist revision sessions in the school by their subject teachers.

The pleasing results this year are even more breathtaking when you consider that the groups which generally provide most challenge for schools, that is Boys and FSM pupils have also increased their attainment, by as much as 10% in some indicators.

The hard work undertaken by my staff – in particular the Head of year 11 Miss E Evans, and her form tutor team, the year 11 pupils and their parents, has been justly rewarded by our best ever exam performance. To all I publicly thank them for their efforts.”

Results of note were :

Best attaining pupils:

Bailey Willmott A*-10, Pass, Distinction, AA*-SC

Harri Evans A*- 7, A-1, B-2, Pass, BB-SC

Matthew Diggle A*-4, A-5, B-1, Pass, Pass, AA-SC

Shannan James A*-2, As-6, Bs-2, Pass,Pass AA-SC

Bethan Davies A*-1, A-3, B-2, C-1, Pass, Pass, Distinction*, Distinction*, BB-SC

Charlotte Carey A*-1, 1-A, Bs-6, C-2, Distinction, Distinction

Ellie May Barnett As-7, B-4, C-1 and Pass

Brittany Savage A-5, B-3, C-2, Pass, BC-SC

Caitlyn Morgan A-3, B-3, C-3, Distinction*, Distinction*

Toni Moore A-3, B-3, C-1, Pass, Pass, Distinction, Distinction, AB-S

Best achieving pupils:

Shannon James, Ellie May Banett Jones

Press Release Rhymney C.S. Thursday 18^th August 2016

The pupils & staff of Rhymney Comprehensive School celebrate 51% of pupils attaining A* to C in their A level results, and over 8% of pupils passing with A* or A grades, a rise of 5% on last year’s results !!

The pupils, parents, staff, and Headteacher of Rhymney Comprehensive school were on cloud nine this week after maintaining last year’s highly impressive A level results. The percentage of students gaining the higher Advanced Level grades (A* to C) for this academic year is an impressive 51%. Particularly remarkable was the 5% increase for pupils attaining the very highest A level grades (A* or A). This year 8% of the pupil exam grades were at this level.

Rhymney has also maintained its high level of pupils passing their A levels (grades A to E). This means the young adults of Rhymney are leaving secondary education with a greater number of qualifications than in previous years, and have climbed another rung on the ladder of their personal lifelong learning journey.

Most of the pupils achieved the grades they required in order to access the Higher Education course of their choice, and continue along their own individual learning pathway. Rhymney pupils will be taking up places at a number of the older more established Universities including Cardiff, Swansea and Bristol from September onwards.

A level performances of note were :

Carys Shepherd – A*AAC

Emma James – A*A* Distinction A

Nicole Carey - ABC

Ashleigh Hill - BBC

Becky Williams - ABC

Head of form 6 Nigel Howells commented “As a school we are very pleased with the results our A level students have achieved this year. They are part of our largest cohort ever and have been a very pleasant and hardworking year group. Many of the year group have excelled themselves in the standards they have attained, to get so many A* and A grades was particularly impressive”

An achievement that has left Mr Robert P Davies the headteacher very pleased “Rhymney Comprehensive continues to reach new peaks, whether at Advanced level, or GCSE level. The cohort of pupils who have just left their post 16 schooling have performed very well – and in the number of A, B and C grades they picked up they have set new standards for others to follow here at the school. There is now a culture of success at Rhymney Comprehensive which you will struggle to better when benchmarked by any other comparable school in the county, or indeed in Wales as a whole.

The impressive results attained by the pupils are a fitting conclusion to the career of the retiring head of 6^th form Mr N Howells. For nearly the past 2 decades Mr Howells has guided, supported and challenged our post 16 pupils in his leadership role. I personally, and the Governing body would like to thank Mr Howells for his efforts and wish him well on the next chapter in his life, enjoy !

Finally I must take this opportunity to pay tribute to the staff, the parents and wider community who between them, have guided and motivated the students to scale the heights they have reached. To all I publicly thank them for their efforts – and look forward to the GCSE results next week”.