GCSE: Disadvantaged

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of pupils who were (a) eligible and (b) not eligible for free school meals 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. (310643)

[holding answer 14 January 2010]: Pupil level attainment data by free school meal eligibility are only available from 2003 onwards. The information requested is presented in the following table and is for maintained schools only.

*Number of pupils*¹ *achieving 5 or more A* or A grades at GCSE including English and Maths (excluding equivalents)Percentage achieving 5 or more A* or A grades at GCSE including English and Maths (excluding equivalents)*
	Eligible for FSM	Not eligible for FSM	Eligible for FSM	Not eligible for FSM
2003	791	33,538	1.0	6.8
2009²	1,254	45,294	1.7	9.0
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

Volume 507: debated on Monday 15 March 2010