|PIC1|One week after the Church of England announced an increase in entrants to A-level Religious Education, the Church is again celebrating as even more students opt for GCSE-level RE.

This year, 8,016 students will enter GCSE RE, 4.7 per cent more than last year.

The figures, announced on Thursday, mark a year on year rise in GCSE-level entrants over the past decade. They also show that this year 1,265 more students took short course GCSE RE than last year.

The Church of England's Head of School Improvement, Nick McKemey, believes the rise is a sign that students appreciate the important role that religion plays in modern society.

"This further increase is evidence that more and more young people are fascinated by what they and others believe, and that they can see that the world is more fully understood by seeing past the various secularist claims that religion is mad, bad or extinct," he said.

"Overall this year's GCSE results strongly suggest that schools - particularly church schools - that work hard to raise the attainment of pupils of all abilities and backgrounds are achieving the greatest success at GCSE."

The Church of England announced last week that the number of A-level RE students has risen each year for the last five years. In 2007-2008, 20,100 students took the A-level RE full course.

"These figures present a significant challenge to those who would present modern society as wholly secular," said McKemey.