Shock decline in schools hitting GCSE targets

One in seven schools are failing to make sure that at least 30 per cent of their pupils achieve five good GCSEs (A*-C) including English and maths.

There are 376,976 pupils on the roll at the 440 schools that fall below this benchmark. Of these, 75,535 sat GCSEs in August.

As there were around 3.2 million children at secondary schools in England last year, this means that more than one in 10 pupils are attending poor schools.

Ministers announced last June that they wanted no school to be falling below this 30 per cent target by 2011.

There numbers of schools below this benchmark has dropped, previously 631 schools were falling short.

Schools that fail to meet the threshold are deemed to be underperforming and come under the Government’s National Challenge initiative, which could see them face closure or being turned into an Academy if their results do not improve.

But today’s statistics also show that 32 of the Government’s flagship academies are failing to meet this target.

This includes academies such as The Business Academy Bexley, which opened in 2002 and Capital City Academy in London which opened in 2003.

In addition, 17 of the 63 academies reporting GCSE results were found in the league table of the worst 200 schools in England.

Schools secretary Ed Balls said that the Government was on target to see no school falling below the 30 per cent threshold by 2011.

He said: “We always said that around a third of National Challenge schools were on track and the figures published today prove this point.

“We now need to continue to concentrate on the remaining schools and ensure we are giving them the support and challenge they need to make sure no child is left behind.

“This is no time for excuses - I want every child to go to a good school and that means every school getting above 30 per cent.”

Schools will be given extra support and funding to reach this target, he said.

Today’s tables reveal that England’s top school is Lawrence Sheriff School, a selective school for boys aged 11-18 in Rugby, Warwickshire. All 89 of its pupils scored five or more grades A*-C, including English and maths.

Saint Bede’s Catholic Science College in Boston, Lincolnshire, came second in a table of the country’s worst schools.

The worst school overall was Parkside Community Technology College in Plymouth, which shut in August and has not been replaced.

The most improved school is Heath Park Business and Enterprise College in Wolverhampton, which has seen its results soar from 28 per cent of pupils achieving five A*-C grades in 2005 to 63 per cent last year.

According to national figures, 47.6 per cent of the 653,045 pupils who took exams last summer achieved five or more good GCSE’s (A*-C) including English and maths, meaning about 340,000 did not reach this benchmark.

In total, 65.3 per cent of pupils achieved at least C grades in any five subjects, while 91.6 per cent of pupils are gaining five or more GCSEs grades A*-G, which is considered a pass.