League tables published last week show Merton schools to be among the top in the country for GCSE grades while Croydon’s have regressed.
Merton ranked 16th out of 151 authorities in England with 64.2% of pupils in the area gaining five good GCSEs last year.
That made it the only London borough to have improved on the previous year and one of only six in the entire country to do so.
It also means Merton jumped from 23rd to 9th of 32 London boroughs for GCSE results.
In a statement, 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.
“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.”
Conversely, Croydon saw 56.8% of pupils achieving the government benchmark of five A* to C GCSE grades, down from 64.4% in 2013.
Some of Croydon’s top-performing independent schools, including Whitgift, Trinity and Croydon High, saw no pupils attaining the top grades.
This was due to confusion over which exams were accredited after the government scrapped international GCSEs, which are popular with independent schools, from its performance data.
Picture courtesy of ccarlstead, with thanks
