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Home | News | Muslim Faith School tops the Notts League Table

Al-Karam Secondary School once again gains first position despite new stringent measures

On Thursday 11 January 2007, the national league tables showing the 2006 GCSE results of all the schools in the United Kingdom were officially published. The league tables which were created in 1992 by John Major’s Conservative government as part of the Citizen’s Charter are now as old as the 15-year-old pupils whose GCSE results they report.  

In the past they have shown the percentage of pupils gaining five A* to C passes in a minimum of five subjects in every school. However, this year for the first time the government has introduced a much tougher benchmark that shows how each school is performing in the core subjects of Maths and English. By this measure nationally just 45% of pupils achieved five top grade passes, including English and Maths, considerably less than the 58% of pupils achieving five good passes if all subjects are taken into consideration.

This deliberate move by the government to raise the standard for school performance is intended to give a more realistic picture of achievement. Schools can no longer inflate or boost their performance by opting for easier subjects or vocational subjects which can be worth as much as four GCSEs each. For example, a GNVQ at intermediate level is equivalent to four GCSE passes and when combined with one more GCSE, in any subject, you have five GCSE passes. This method failed to equip teenagers with the basic requirements of English and Maths and many schools relied on this as an effective way of avoiding the consequences of falling below government targets.

This new structure of presenting exam results has caused considerable turbulence in the league tables compared with previous years and has had a dramatic effect on the results of some schools. One school went from a score of 82% passing the equivalent of five A* to Cs to just 16% when Maths and English were included. Many other schools, which had been climbing up the tables in recent years, found themselves slithering back down again.

The results reveal that more than three hundred thousand pupils last summer failed to achieve top-grade passes (A* to C) in Maths and English. (Times, 11.01.07)

Since its inception in 1995, Al-Karam Secondary School founded by Shaykh M I H Pirzada, has maintained very high academic standards. Its first GCSE result in 1998 was a resounding 87%, grades A* to C in five or more subjects, which topped the league table for Nottinghamshire. In 2005, a similar feat was achieved when the school for the first time gained 100%, grades A* to C in five or more subjects, thus again taking first position in the Nottinghamshire GCSE league table. This momentum has continued for the 2006 GCSE results in which the school achieved 95%, grades A* to C in five or more subjects. Despite the drastic change by the government in the way that the tables are published based upon higher passes in Maths and English, the school has still managed to gain first position with a 79%, grades A* to C in five or more subjects including Maths and English. This is a remarkable achievement since within ten years, the school has topped the league table three times and has taken first position from amongst 58 schools including comprehensive, independent and grammar schools.

Not only this, considering the vast majority of the school’s intake is from inner city comprehensive schools where the national average is in the forties and even less for the ethnic minorities, Al-Karam Secondary School remains in first position despite these new tougher measures in the way the recent league tables have been published where English and Maths passes must be included.

Key to the school’s success is the hard work, commitment and dedication of the staff who work very closely with the students to raise their academic performance and create an atmosphere and environment in the classroom which is conducive to learning so that they can achieve the best of their academic potential.

Melvyn Idris Morgan from Leicester came in first place gaining 8 A* grades and 1 A grade. Mohammed Abdullah from Hyde came in second place gaining 4 A* grades and 5 A grades. Ayaz Ur Rehman Iqbal from Belgium came in third place gaining 3 A* grades, 4 A grades, 3 B grades and 1 C grade.

Moreover, a statistical breakdown will show that the majority of the grades achieved by all pupils are considered to be higher passes. Since, 12% of the total grades achieved were A*, 24% were A, 26% were B and 24% were C.

Whilst congratulating the pupils and staff of Al-Karam Secondary School on their resounding success, the founder and principal, Shaykh M I H Pirzada, commented;

“Parents are advised that before choosing a school for their children they should pay careful attention to the league tables, since the coming era is of media, business, politics, science and technology and the first step is gaining good GCSE results. The nations that progressed in these fields are today governing the world and if Muslims had not discarded these disciplines, the face of the world would be different.

I urge the Muslim youth to pursue modern education whilst maintaining their identity. If India’s Head of State can be a Muslim and the Prime Minister a Sikh, then due to your capability, in this democratic system, one day you can attain the premiership of this country, as Prime Minister Tony Blair has said.”

 NEWS: 21/01/2007