One of the concerns that many parents and campaigners have felt is that academies are finding ways to improve their GCSE results by preventing pupils who are not likely to succeed from sitting exams.
The recent Newsnight article drew attention to efforts made by academies to persuade pupils to leave without excluding them, thereby protecting their schools results.
The article also identified some interesting figures. They show that nearly twice as many pupils don’t sit English and Maths in academies as in all other schools.
They also show that in 20% of academies 5% of pupils didn’t sit English and Maths, double that of any other school type, and in 8.5% of academies 10% of pupils didn’t sit English or Maths, over 3 times higher than any other school type.
When the government release the GCSE results later in January they will make great claims about the academy results. They will also fail to mention some of the methods employed to achieve them.
Pupils not sitting English and Maths GCSE
3.5% in Academies
2% all other schools
Schools where 5% of pupils do not sit English and Maths
23.4% Academies
11.4% Community
7.24% Voluntary Aided
12.5% Voluntary Controlled
9.47% Foundation
Schools where 10% of pupils do not sit English and Maths
8.51% Academies
2.53% Community
1.37% Voluntary aided
1.64% Foundation
my son featured on bbc2 newsnight where we were forced to find another school.
have just seen this internet page on twitter
http://www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/allstatistics/a00196834/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-from-schools
this shows a clear difference with the percentages for fixed/permanent with academies in comparison to state schools.