THE WELSH Local Government Association has congratulated Welsh pupils on their GCSE and Welsh Baccalaureate exam achievements.

Results for 2014 show that overall outcomes at grades A*-C, across all subjects, have improved from 65.7 per cent last year to 66.6 per cent in 2014. This represents a stable and encouraging 0.9 percentage point improvement for Wales, compared to a 0.7 improvement across the UK as a whole.

The Welsh Baccalaureate also saw continued success, with record achievement levels in both the Intermediate and Foundation levels.

In total, 85.7 per cent of candidates were awarded the Welsh Baccalaureate Intermediate Diploma compared to 79 per cent in 2013, while percentage pass rates at Foundation level also reached new highs.

Responding to the results, a Welsh Local Government Association spokesman said:

“Today must be about offering our wholehearted congratulations to Welsh pupils on their success and hard work, and wishing them all the very best for the next stage of their education or first steps within their future careers. Credit must also be given to the education professionals who have worked so hard to inspire them.

“The educational achievements of our young people rest on a clear partnership between parents and schools as well as government at all levels in Wales, and we must remain fully committed to the constant improvement of educational standards so that every learner in Wales can achieve their full potential.

“These stable results demonstrate the hard work that has gone in to adapt to education changes across England and Wales, and while some trends do leave room for improvement, the focus in Wales is now firmly on improving the quality of learning and teaching in the classroom. Regional educational consortia, and a number of wider initiatives have already been launched to achieve this and, while these measures will take some time to ‘bed-in’, we expect to achieve even further and system wide improvement over the coming years.”