NEW education figures show Redbridge has improved its GCSE results yet again this year – but the borough has slipped down the exam table nationally, with more than a quarter of children still leaving school without a decent pass in English or maths.

Redbridge has dropped from second to fourth in the national table for the percentage of youngsters passing five GCSEs at grades A to C – including the two key subjects.

Only 63.5 per cent of the borough’s youngsters managed to pass both English or maths at grades A to C this year which – despite being a 2.3 per cent improvement on last year’s figure – has raised questions over why so many children are still failing to make the grade in the exams which matter most.

Grant Thompson, who employs several recent school leavers as manager of The George pub in Wanstead High Street, said he believed good numeracy and literacy skills were vital if young people want to progress in their careers.

He said: “You can get away with a lower level of skills for a while because you have technology to add up for you, but when that fails you need to have the back up of being able to work things out for yourself.

“You don’t have to be Einstein to get on, but you must be able to add up, and you certainly need decent numeracy and literacy skills if you want to go into management.”

The results also showed a slight drop in the number of Redbridge teenagers passing five GCSEs at grade A-G without English and maths, with the borough slipping from first place to fourth in the national table.

Richard Strong, of Wanstead Business Partnership, said school leavers need a wider range of skills today than ever before.

He said: “It’s vital that kids have a firm grasp of maths and English to get them by, because it’s such a tough job market out there now.

“It’s tough for schools, because they have to provide kids with all sorts of extra skills these days, such as IT, that were not thought about when I was there.”

English teacher, Ashley Gunstock, who has taught in several Redbridge schools, believes the literacy and numeracy gap is a result of poor Government policy.

He said: “The present culture of constant testing in schools has put lots of children off learning and acquiring knowledge.

“The curriculum is the problem, not the teaching, but I think the Government has finally recognised this by getting rid of Key Stage 3 exams.”

Cllr Michael Stark, Cabinet Member for Children's Services said they were expecting revised figures to show a better result for Redbridge because they would discount the large number of children in the borough who have arrived from abroad and have English as a foreign language.

He added: "Redbridge Council is once again celebrating after provisional results show its pupils produced an impressive set of GCSE results this year. The percentage of pupils leaving school without English or maths at grade C or above is well below the national and is reducing, placing Redbridge in the top ten nationally. We are committed to raising attainment and are very proud of our young people and the hard work and dedication they have put in to achieving a superb set of results."