THE last couple of weeks have seen the publication of A level and GCSE results. It is extremely tense and without good results, passing onto the next level of education becomes tricky.

So it was heartening to see good results coming out of schools in Wyre Forest. The Shuttle has already reported on individual schools and student achievements in earlier editions, but I have been really impressed by the results across all schools and across both sets of exams. It is the specific stories that I find so impressive, in particular Baxter College achieving its first Oxford entry to read a testing and challenging course in law.

Education is pretty much key to every outcome in people’s lives. Getting qualifications is not the only route to a successful life, but they really do give people the best opportunity for the best start. Good GCSEs get you onto good A level courses; good A levels get you a good university place; a good degree sets you up with good opportunities with employers. But this fact has been known for centuries and social mobility is best achieved through opportunity.

So bearing this in mind, it is incredible that five years ago this country had one in three pupils leaving school without proper numeracy and literacy skills. Grade inflation meant grades had improved every year for nearly three decades and yet we were slipping the international league tables. Something was wrong.

IN the last five years, a couple of big changes have set the changes for improvement. The first was the big push behind academies. The reality has always been that teachers at local schools really understand the local needs of their communities, yet for years the education needs and curricula had been set nationally. The huge roll out of academies and, to a lesser extent, free schools has allowed head teachers to set their own agenda and goals. The result has been an overall improvement in standards and outcomes.

The second was a drive to master the core subjects better, through the introduction of the English Baccalaureate.

But whilst the government makes the framework for education, it is the pupils who do the work, achieving great results; their teachers who, in my experience of Wyre Forest schools, are absolutely dedicated to their profession and pupils; and the families who support their children through their school careers.