GCSE: Disadvantaged

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of white (a) boys and (b) girls eligible for free school meals at the end of key stage 4 achieved five A* or A grades at GCSE, including English and mathematics but excluding equivalents in the (i) earliest and (ii) most recent year for which figures are available. (309638)

[holding answer 11 January 2010]: Pupil level attainment data by free school meal eligibility and ethnicity is only available from 2003 onwards. The information requested is presented in the following table and is for maintained schools only.

*Number of white pupils*¹ *eligible for free school meals achieving five or more A* or A grades at GCSE including English and Maths (excluding equivalents)Percentage of white pupils eligible for free school meals achieving five or more A* or A grades at GCSE including English and Maths (excluding equivalents)*
	Boys	Girls	Boys	Girls
2003	158	213	0.6	0.8
2009²	211	344	0.8	1.4
¹ Figures for 2003 are based on pupils aged 15 and 2009 figures are based on pupils at the end of key stage 4. ² Figures for 2009 are provisional. Source: National Pupil Database.

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils eligible for free school meals attended schools at which fewer than 30 per cent. of pupils achieved five A* to C grades at GCSE including English and mathematics but excluding equivalents in (a) 1997 and (b) the most recent year for which figures are available. (311637)

[holding answer 18 January 2010]: In 2009 there were 89,580 pupils eligible¹ for free school meals attending schools at which fewer than 30 per cent. of pupils achieved five A* to C grades at GCSE including English and mathematics but excluding equivalents² (includes post 16 pupils).

To provide information for 1997 would incur disproportionate cost.

¹ Those eligible may choose not to take up their offer of a free school meal for various reasons e.g. through preference or non attendance on the day. Pupils are counted as eligible only if they meet the eligibility criteria and make a claim.

² Includes maintained mainstream schools with more than 10 pupils. Qualifications include GCSEs, GCSE short courses, GCSE double awards, vocational single and double GCSEs and AS levels.

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of students at each secondary school in (a) the City of Newcastle upon Tyne, (b) North Tyneside borough, (c) Gateshead borough and (d) Northumberland (i) achieved English GCSE grades A* to C, (ii) achieved mathematics GCSE grades A* to C and (iii) qualified for free school meals in 2009. (313574)

[holding answer 26 January 2010]: The information requested has been placed in the Libraries.

Volume 506: debated on Tuesday 23 February 2010