THE slight reduction in achievement of Okehampton College students taking GCSEs this year has been put down to the disruption caused by foot and mouth disease, the principal Chris Powell has concluded.
Forty seven per cent of students achieved five or more GCSEs at grades A*-C which was slightly down on last year, however, over 98 per cent of pupils achieved A* to G grades, which is better than in 2000.
Principal Chris Powell said in the GCSE year group there were about 20 students significantly affected by the foot and mouth outbreak and had quite a lot of time off. 'A lot of families have suffered considerable stress caused by either the death of their animals or the effect on their businesses and I am fairly pleased at just how well students have done given all that has been going on.
'We also had flooding at the college which caused some disruption to classes.'
The majority of students will be going onto sixth form or further education colleges like Exeter and Bicton.
The principal said he was particularly delighted with the 'A' and 'AS' level results where students notched up a 97 per cent pass rate. 'On the whole I was very pleased but there is lots of potential to improve in the future,' he said.
Last week's story regarding examination results referred to GCSE when it should have stated A levels.
STUDENTS, parents and teachers at Shebbear College have welcomed this year's crop of GCSE results.
Out of a total of 26 UK students, 84.6 per cent achieved five A*-C grades, giving an average points per candidate of 46.62.
The UK pupils registered an overall pass rate of 61 per cent achieving A*-B grades.
Headmaster Leslie Clark said: 'I am delighted with the quality of results for the UK students passing with A*-B grades.
'This is very encouraging and reflects all the hard work that the students and College have been working towards.'