§ Lord Moynihanasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Ashton of Upholland on 31 March (WA 166), what. initiatives they intend to take in response to the comments made by H M Chief Inspector of Schools to the House of Commons Education Select Committee on 8 March that there was a concern over the "less than spectacular success of the sports colleges". [HL2588]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Baroness Ashton of Upholland)Sports college status has been used to accelerate schools' performance, in spite of the fact that a large proportion of sports colleges serve areas of social disadvantage (44 per cent have a higher than average proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals). Since 1999, the average GCSE 5+ A*-C performance of sports colleges has risen from 41 per cent to 48 per cent which means that sports colleges are raising attainment at a higher rate than the national average (17 per cent increase compared to 10 per cent). Other measures of performance also show that sports college status confers benefits in terms of improved school performance.
As with all specialist schools, sports colleges face a rigorous redesignation process every four years to ensure that they are continuing to meet the demands of the programme. The department also funds the Youth Sport Trust (YST) to work closely with sports colleges, with, for example, regular visits to schools, and in-depth annual reports on the sports college initiative. This ensures that an appropriate level of challenge is maintained.