Issue - meetings

Martin Surrell circulated details of the Religious Studies GSCE and A Level results for the academic year 2007-2008 to the SACRE.

GCSE Results

Of the 1090 pupils in Year 11 during the 2007/08 academic year, 254 pupils had studied the Full Course GCSE and 427 pupils had studied the Short Course GCSE. 

Of the 254 pupils studying the Full Course GCSE all except one pupil had passed and 168 pupils had achieved an A* to C grading. On average both boys and girls in Bracknell Forest had achieved one grade higher in Religious Education GCSE than pupils nationally.

Of the 427 pupils studying the Short Course GCSE 215 pupils had achieved an A* ? C grading.  Although the short course results were not as good as the long course results they were still significantly better than national averages with both boys and girls achieving one grade higher than the national average.

The difference in grades between the Short Course GCSE and the Long Course GCSE was a national occurrence and it was thought to be caused, in part, by the use of non-specialist teachers to teach the short course.

Martin Surrell agreed to identify the proportion of pupils achieving each grade nationally in both the Short Course and the Long Course.

A Level Results

Of the 22 pupils who had sat the Religious Studies A Level exam all had passed and 16 had achieved either an A or a B grade. 

SACRE noted that 10 of the 20 pupils studying for an A Level attended the same school and three secondary schools in the Borough did not offer Religious Studies as an option at A Level.  Martin Surrell informed the SACRE that local collaboration meant that if one of the town schools decided to offer Religious Studies as an A Level option it might be possible to open the course to pupils at other schools and he would be investigating this possibility further.

The SACRE were encouraged by the results and felt that they showed that religious education continued to be taught to a high standard in the Borough.