To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of pupils have no schools where more than 30 per cent. of pupils achieved five GCSEs at A*-C including English and mathematics in 2008 within (a) two and (b) three miles of their homes. (268483)

The information is as follows:

(a) 128,401 pupils^1,2 have no schools³ with more than 30 per cent. of pupils achieving five GCSEs at A*-C including English and mathematics within two miles of their homes. This represents 2.1 per cent. of all pupils^1,2 attending maintained mainstream schools.

(b) 52,812 pupils^1,2 have no schools³ with more than 30 per cent. of pupils achieving five GCSEs at A*-C including English and mathematics within three miles of their homes. This represents 0.9 per cent. of all pupils^1,2 attending maintained mainstream schools.

¹ Pupils aged five to 15 years with a valid home postcode attending maintained mainstream schools.

² Excludes 632,931 pupils who do not have any schools within two miles and 355,329 pupils who do not have any schools within three miles.

³ Excludes schools reported to be closed in 2007/08 Attainment and Achievement Tables.

Source:

School Census 2008 - Attainment and Achievement Tables 2007/08

The National Challenge programme is supporting all schools below the floor with bespoke packages of support to help schools accelerate their improvements. This will help to increase the number of good school places for pupils, delivering a sustainable transformation of secondary education across the country.

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many entries there were for GCSE examinations for pupils from each type of school in each of the last three years. (268492)

The answer is provided in the following table:

The figures relate to pupils who were at the end of Key Stage 4 in the given year and include any GCSE attempts by these pupils in previous academic years. Only full GCSEs have been included.

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils (a) eligible for and (b) not eligible for free school meals achieved eight or more GCSEs at A or A* grade in each of the last three years. (268497)

The answer is provided in the following table:

The figures are based on pupils at the end of key stage 4 and include results in full and double award GCSEs, vocational/applied GCSEs, short courses and intermediate GNVQs.

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many and what proportion of pupils attended mainstream secondary schools at which less than (a) 10 per cent., (b) 20 per cent. and (c) 30 per cent. of pupils obtained fewer than five A* to C grades in GCSE including English and mathematics in 2007-08; (271016)

Information on children in care is usually sourced from the Looked-After Children database but this is not currently matched to attainment data.

Data on pupils in care are also collected via the School Census. However, the School Census may undercount the number of looked-after children in secondary and special schools.

However, data on special educational needs, in care and attainment are currently not matched together in one data extract. Producing that could be done only at disproportionate cost.

The available data extract does, however, combine data on children in care with Achievement and Attainment Table data. In care data from that source is given in the table.

Only schools with results published in the Achievement and Attainment Tables have been included in this answer.

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of pupils whose first language was not English achieved five grades A* to C at GCSE including English and mathematics in each year since 1997. (271473)

This information available can be found in the following table:

Figures prior to 2004 cannot be given on a comparable basis as qualifications equivalent to a GCSE were not included in the calculation of the attainment results.

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of pupils of the relevant age did not gain a GCSE at (a) C grade or above, (b) D grade or above and (c) E grade or above in 2008. (259106)

The information is as follows:

In 2008:

123,542 (20.7 per cent.) pupils at the end of KS4 did not gain a GCSE at grade C or above

66,456 (11.1 per cent.) pupils at the end of KS4 did not gain a GCSE at grade D or above

37,180 (6.2 per cent.) of pupils at the end of KS4 did not gain a GCSE at grade E or above

The figures relate to all pupils in maintained schools; and include full GCSEs and vocational GCSEs.

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families in how many schools (a) 75 per cent. or more and (b) 50 per cent. or more of pupils eligible to receive free school meals did not achieve a single GCSE above grade D in 2008. (251048)

The information requested is provided as follows:

(a) The number of maintained mainstream schools¹ where 75 per cent. or more of pupils eligible to receive free school meals did not achieve any GCSEs² above grade D at the end of key stage 4 in 2008 was 29.

(b) The number of maintained mainstream schools¹ where 50 per cent. or more of pupils eligible to receive free school meals did not achieve any GCSEs² above grade D at the end of key stage 4 in 2008 was 621.

¹ Schools published in the Secondary School Achievement and Attainment Tables with more than 10 pupils eligible for free school meals.

² Includes full GCSEs and vocational GCSEs only. GNVQs and other equivalents are not included.

Source:

National Pupil Database.

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of pupils whose first language was not English and who had special educational needs achieved five grades A* to C at GCSE in each year since 1997. (265672)

This information available can be found in the following table:

Figures prior to 2004 cannot be given on a comparable basis as qualifications equivalent to a GCSE were not included in the calculation of the attainment results.