GCSE RESULTS

I AGREE with your editorial (Echo, Aug 24) regarding the GCSE results in Darlington.

Why can't all our secondary schools be like Hurworth and Carmel and achieve 80 to 90 per cent pass rates at GCSE A* to C level?

A total of 51.8 per cent of pupils in the council-maintained secondaries achieved five passes at A* to C this year compared with 89 per cent of pupils at Carmel and Hurworth, which are both outside the council's control.

Why can't parents in Darlington have real choice in the secondary education for their children? What has the council being doing these last ten years to raise educational achievement in all our secondary schools?

Why has the flagship (The Education Village) gone backwards to the extent that the results this year are the same as Haughton School achieved in 2004?

In a neighbouring town, the lowest pass rate at A* to C level is 60 per cent. A secondary school in the same town, which is the same as Eastbourne, achieved a 70 per cent pass rate for two years running. Why can't Eastbourne do the same?

Why aren't the opposition parties doing something about Darlington's two-tier secondary education system which has existed for far too long? - Alan Macnab, Darlington.

ANOTHER fantastic set of GCSE results for Hurworth School Maths and Computing College (Echo, Aug 23). With 96 per cent of its pupils achieving the benchmark five or more A* to C grades, all connected with the school - head, staff and, most importantly, the pupils - deserve huge congratulations.

Other results in the borough of Darlington worthy of mention include Branksome, which continues to move forward at a pace, and Eastbourne, which has seen a stunning turn-around from last year.

Rather a shame then that the head who has overseen this improvement has had to make way for the new Eastbourne Academy head appointed by the Church of England.

The disparity of school performances around the borough remains huge, and the time has surely come for Darlington Borough Council to accept that it must invest in success, and make the borough's best school a centre of excellence for the benefit of all our young people.

Then, and only then, will all the children get the very best education that they so richly deserve. - Carolynne Marshall, Hurworth, near Darlington.

THE GCSE results at Hurworth School - where 96 per cent of pupils reached the benchmark standard of five or more A* to C grades - provide 96 reasons (81 of them for maths and English) to ensure that never again should the local education authority consider closing a school that stands "toe-to-toe" with selective grammars as well as private fee-paying schools.

The congratulations and thanks of parents go to Eamonn Farrar and Dean Judson and their staff. The sooner the education authority commissions them to provide leadership to overcome the mediocrity apparent in some other schools the better for our futures. - Martin Phillips, Sadberge, near Darlington.