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Specialist Schools: Disadvantaged

Volume 467: debated on Tuesday 20 November 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the extent to which spending on specialist schools has targeted educational disadvantage; and if he will make a statement. (166036)

The Specialist Schools Programme is a universal offer open to all maintained secondary schools in England which meet the required standard. Over 86 per cent. of schools are now specialist and many are based in and around areas of social deprivation. The Department’s CVA research uses detailed data about individual pupils taking into account factors like gender, ethnicity and deprivation and maps pupils’ prior attainment at primary school on to their eventual results at GCSE level. This allows us to calculate that, on average, individual pupils (regardless of their social background) make good progress at specialist schools. Specialist status is linked to higher results at GCSE whether this is on the 5+A*-C measure, VA or CVA, which is why we continue to invest some £422 million a year in specialist school funding.

Specialist schools benefit from external sponsors, links with their community and an achievement ethos. They are focused on whole-school improvement through their specialism, backed up by challenging targets and partnerships with other schools. By working collaboratively with other schools to share specialist facilities and resources, the effects of specialist school funding are disseminated beyond the individual school.