Instead pupils took home economics business studies computing music and art the entries for which all increased

Instead, pupils took home economics, business studies, computing, music and art, the entries for which all increased.Entries for history were down by 5.3 per cent.David Blunkett, Labour’s education spokesman, said: “We need to have far more people gaining the equivalent of 5 A – C grades, either through GCSE or vocational qualifications, if we are to meet our national targets.”Doug McAvoy, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “The GCSE’s critics should now pack their bags and skulk away Their concerns have been addressed.”. Last year, English and maths results were slightly worse than in the previous year. The percentage awarded an A or A* overall was up by 0.6 per cent.Entries for technology fell by 30 per cent after the requirement for GCSE-year students to study the subject was temporarily withdrawn. I am particularly pleased to see significant improvements in science and maths results, areas crucial to our national competitiveness.”The overall pass rate for grades A* to G remained the same as in 1995 – 98.6 per cent.As The Independent revealed yesterday, the total entry for the GCSE increased by only 1.1 per cent though there was a rise of 3.1 per cent in the 16- year-old population, suggesting that schools are not entering thousands of weaker pupils.Last night teachers’ leaders claimed that the change had been caused by increased competition between schools.The proportion gaining grades A – C rose slightly in science and maths and stayed much the same in English.

Entries in all three subjects have fallen by 80 percentage points or more since 1988 when the GCSE started.Since then the number of entries for combined science has risen from 150,000 to nearly a million but some experts believe the fall in the take- up of individual science subjects has contributed to the drop in numbers taking the subject at A-level. Critics of combined science say it fails to prepare pupils for A-level courses.Alan Smithers, Professor of Public Policy at Brunel University, said the improved entries for individual science were the result of the new slimmed-down curriculum. “The curriculum now gives schools more time and the individual sciences, which take more time than combined science, have revived,” he said.The review of the curriculum two years ago by Sir Ron Dearing, the Government’s education adviser, cut the number of compulsory subjects for pupils aged 14 to 16.Lord Henley, the schools minister, said: “The GCSE has been tried and tested and has proved its worth in motivating and stretching young people of all abilities. Figures released yesterday by the GCSE exam boards also showed that the proportion of entries getting grades A* to C – the equivalent of a pass in the old O-level – rose by 1 percentage point to 53.7 per cent.
In physics, chemistry and biology, entries were up by 6.1 per cent, 6.9 per cent and 5.9 per cent respectively. I guess we’re the low life,” Sharla said.But the real unforeseen hero of the night was Steven Alvey, replacing George Innes, who had come down the ladder too fast. Mr Alvey was until last night a plasterer on the site who also worked in the education centre and had heard the lines so many times he all but knew them by heart.

The all-purpose actor/teacher/plasterer was something even Shakespeare would not have foreseen.. The slimmed-down national curriculum has boosted entries for individual GCSE science subjects, reversing the trend of nearly a decade and raising hopes of an improved take-up of science in the sixth form. But it also became clear that the Globe has had a triumphant rebirth and will undoubtedly attract tourists from around the world to this intimate and stunning venue.Indeed, among the ground-lings were Lila and Sharla Smith, a mother and daughter from Minnesota.”This is where we wanted to be I hear this is where the bawdy things happen. And the groundling bonhomie continued into the interval when some parties managed a covert picnic in ersatz Glyndebourne style with smuggled-in bottles of wine.It became clear from the wooden seats last night that Elizabethan bottoms were sturdier.

On stage kisses were greeted with a climactic drawing in of breath by 900 people.This accomplished and often very funny modern dress production showed there is a thirst for participatory theatre, whether that thirst for a touch of pantomime is borne out of novelty only time will tell.Rylance in particular played the audience, often just by raising an eyebrow or nodding at a heckler. to rediscover something of the original interpretation of the plays … this reconstruction is the first opportunity to explore the physical setting and what that contributes to the plays.” He has also given his blessing to the crowd, particularly 500 ground- lings standing in Elizabethan mode in “the yard”.Last night the audience, with cultural and historical accuracy, booed and cheered and even ventured the odd bawdy remark. Though building continues, the dream of the late impresario Sam Wanamaker came to pass last night and the Bard’s words were spoken from underneath the wooden O of the pounds 30m Globe Theatre.Mark Rylance, director and one of last night’s Gentlemen of Verona, said: “The Globe is to be used … Advance sales were not exactly the thing: tickets were available for every evening of this first season except last night’s opening.
It had to be, then, that the playhouse was the thing And so it proved. Nor was the food the thing: despite the traditions of the Bankside area, with its alleged historic hostelries, one cafe was all that could be spied from the riverside. The parking certainly wasn’t the thing: facilities seemed no better than when the Puritans closed the theatre in the 1640s and traffic wardens seemed to outnumber celebrity guests.