§ Mr. Hilary BennTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list in respect of each of the last three years(a) the percentage of pupils achieving 5 or more A*-C grades at GCSE and (b) the average points score at A level for pupils attending (i) specialist schools and (ii) comprehensive schools (excluding specialist schools) in England. [127867]
§ Mr. WicksThe information requested on GCSEs and GCE A level is shown in the following table. However, it is not possible to make year-on-year comparisons, as the number of specialist schools has increased each year; therefore, the schools in each of the categories have changed.
Percentage 1997 1998 1999 (a) Percentage of 15-year-old pupils achieving 5 Or more GCSE grades A*-C (i) in specialist schools 50.8 52.2 53.3 (ii) in comprehensive schools excluding specialist schools 41.6 42.3 44 More detailed analysis is available for specialist school performance from the year each school became specialist up to 1998. The annual average improvement in the proportion of pupils achieving at least 5 or more GCSEs 193W A*-C for specialist schools between 1994 and 1998 was 1.11 percentage points; for non-specialist schools it was 0.75.
1997 1998 1999 (b) Average GCE A/AS point score of candidates aged 16–18 entered for 2 or more GCE A/AS (i) in specialist schools 17.4 18.2 18.3 (ii) in comprehensive schools excluding specialist schools 16.3 16.6 16.8