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Mass Media: GCSE

Volume 507: debated on Wednesday 17 March 2010

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils (a) eligible and (b) not eligible for free school meals sat GCSE media studies in 2009. (315524)

In 2009, 60,047 pupils at the end of key stage 4 were entered for GCSE examinations in media, film and television studies. Of these 7,314 pupils were known to be eligible for free school meals, 52,715 were not eligible for free school meals and there were 18 pupils for whom free school meal eligibility could not be determined.

These figures relate to pupils in maintained schools only, including CTCs and academies. Information collected on free school meals forms part of the School Census which is only carried out in maintained schools. This free school meal information is then linked to attainment data. It relates to those pupils known to be eligible to receive free meals rather than those in receipt of free meals.