Schools in Wales told `do better'

WELSH SCHOOLS must do better at A-level, Peter Hain, Education Minister at the Welsh Office said yesterday.

Exam results for Welsh schools show that the average A-level point score per pupil remained at 16 - two Cs and a D - for the third year running. The comparable figure for English schools this year was 17.8. (The point score covers 10 for an A down to 2 for an E.)

More Welsh pupils than ever before were awarded five good grades at GCSE. The percentage of pupils who scored five or more A*-C grades rose from 44 per cent last year to 46 per cent. The comparable figures for England were 45.1 per cent and 46.3 per cent.

At GCSE, the top school was St John's College, a Cardiff independent school, where all pupils achieved five or more A*-C grades. At A-level, another Cardiff independent school, New College, was top with an average of 25 points each.

Mr Hain said he was encouraged that Wales appeared to be closing the gap with England on most key indicators.