Written - Excellent Examination Performance : Statistics Published 30 September 2009

I am delighted to announce the release of this year’s provisional external examination results for schools in Wales. They highlight the positive progress made by students in Wales again this year and demonstrate the great progress that we are making in Wales. We are really beginning to reap the rewards of our groundbreaking policies.

The statistics show the excellent progress made against key external examination performance indicators. Since release of pass rates in August officials have matched the results back to individual pupils to calculate performance against key indicators. Data have also been gathered from across the awarding organisations to give a broader view of performance and achievement.

The statistics released on 30 September show that:

• The proportion of 15 year olds achieving the Level 2 Threshold (equivalent in volume to 5 GCSEs at A*-C) including a good pass for English or Welsh first language and mathematics rose by 1 percentage point to 46.6 %
• The proportion achieving the Level 2 Threshold also increased again this year; 59.4 percent of 15 year olds met or exceeded the threshold this year, an improvement of 1.4 percentage points on 2008’s final figure.
• The proportion achieving the Level 1 Threshold (equivalent in volume to 5 GCSEs at D-G) also increased again this year; 87.9 percent of 15 year olds met or exceeded the threshold this year, an improvement of 1.1 percentage points on 2008’s final figure.
• The proportion of 15 year old pupils not achieving a recognised qualification fell again to 2.3% this year. 
• The proportion of 17 year olds achieving the Level 3 threshold (equivalent in volume to 2 A levels) also rose by 1.3 percentage points to 95.5%.

I remain focussed on improvement for all in Wales. It is encouraging to see that performance has improved not only at the higher end of the ability range but also at Level 1 and that there is a further reduction in the proportion of pupils not achieving any recognised qualification.

Once again our young people are proving that a positive and collaborative working, environment, which is central to the School Effectiveness Framework, can generate solid progress and sustained improvement.