§ Martin LintonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress she has made in improving standards in secondary schools in(a) England and (b) Wandsworth. [77287]
§ Mr. MilibandWe are committed to raising standards significantly in secondary schools. That is why we have set challenging targets for raising pupil attainment at 14 and 16. The GCE results for Wandsworth are currently not available, though we know nationally that over 51 per cent of 16-year olds-have achieved five or more GCSEs or GNVQ equivalent. This is an increase of 4.9 percentage point from when targets were first introduced in 1997/98.
In the case of 14-year-olds, there has been an improvement nationally of 1 percentage point in English and mathematics, while in science the large gains made last year have been consolidated. Provisional data for Wandsworth suggest that the number of 14 year olds achieving the standard expected at the end of Key Stage 3 has risen by 4 percentage points in English, and 2 percentage points in maths and science. This is good news, and suggests that our Key Stage 3 strategy has made an early impact on raising pupil standards in the early years of secondary education.