Strong exam performance from students in the area
The latest education league tables show that Merton's schools are among the top in England when it comes to pupils achieving five good GCSEs.
The borough was ranked 16th out of 151 English authorities, with 64.2% of Merton's pupil's gaining five good GCSEs last year.
Despite figures for the whole country showing an overall decline, it was the only London borough to see improved GCSE results in comparison with the previous year. It was also one of only six education authorities in England.
Merton has also seen the fastest-improving GCSE results in London over the last five years increasing from 52.4% 5 A* to C grades including English and Maths in 2009/10 to 64.2% in 2013/14 – above the London average of 61.5% and the national average of 53.4%. Merton is now the 9th out of 32 London Boroughs for GCSE results, up from 23rd last year.
Merton Council's cabinet member for education, Councillor Martin Whelton said: "I am delighted that our secondary schools have had the fastest-improving GCSE results in London this year – building on our success of having had the highest increase of 5 A*-C GCSE grades including English and maths in the last five years.
"I would like to thank all our young people for achieving this success, along with the teaching staff and their families for their hard work and support . Education changes lives for the better and as a council we will continue to work hard to ensure our results continue to improve and that our young people have the best possible start in life."
In England as a whole underperforming secondaries, as measured by the Government's benchmarks, have doubled as tougher criteria were applied to the 2014 exams. Re-sits were banned and some vocational qualifications no longer count. This lead to 330 schools failing to get over 40% of pupils passing GCSEs with good grades including English and Maths.
February 2, 2015