HC Deb 07 September 2004 vol 424 cc103-6WS
The Secretary of State for Education and Skills (Mr. Charles Clarke)

I would like to report on this summer's results for Key Stages 1, 2 and 3, GCSE and A level, which show that we are making steady progress in raising standards at every level.

At age 7—Key Stage 1

Some 1.85 per cent. of pupils achieved the expected level in reading (an increase of 1 percentage point over 2003) and 90 per cent. of pupils did so in maths (unchanged from 2003).1

At age 11—Key Stage 2

A record 77 per cent. of pupils achieved the expected level in English, an increase of 2 percentage points from last year (up 12 percentage points compared to 1998), and 74 per cent. of pupils achieved the expected level in Maths, a 1 percentage point increase from last year (up 15 percentage points from 6 years ago). These are good results and show that standards achieved by pupils in our primary schools are continuing to improve. Pupils and parents can be confident that their primary schools are still getting better and better.

Standards at Key Stage 2 are improving in all areas but some of the biggest strides are in some of the poorest areas, such as Hackney where English improved by 7 percentage points and Maths by 6 percentage points compared to 2003 and Sunderland, where there was a 5 percentage point improvement in English and a 4 percentage point improvement in Maths. Among other LEAs Hartlepool and Southampton recorded the highest improvements in both English and Maths results. It shows that poverty is not a barrier to success.

It is a tribute to the hard work of teachers who have made this possible. We will continue to offer them targeted help and support.

At age 14

I am pleased to see progress made in maths. At Key Stage 3, there has been a 2 percentage point increase in the number of pupils achieving level 5 in Maths and over 50 per cent. of 14 year olds are now reaching level 6 in maths, a tremendous achievement. There has been a 2 percentage point fall in the number of pupils achieving level 5 in Science compared to last year, although there has been a 10 percentage points increase since 1998.

Publication of Key Stage 3 English results has been deferred until the outcome, in terms of scale and nature, of the extended marking process for schools is known. Under the National Statistics Code of Practice, it is the statistics Head of Profession in the Department who decides on the content and timing of the release of National Statistics, and provides advice to ministers.

At GCSE

I welcome the rise in the number of entries achieving top grades for all candidates in England and Wales—the biggest rise in A* to C grades since 1999. The provisional results show that: Grades at A*—C for all candidates in England and Wales have increased by 1.1 percentage points to 59.2% (compared to a 0.2 percentage point rise last summer) Some 97.6 per cent. of GCSE entrants achieved a grade A*—G—the same rate as last year Grades A*—C at maths have increased by 1.6 percentage points to 51.7 per cent. English is up by 0.2 percentage point to 59.9 per cent. An increase of entries in chemistry of 5 per cent., in physics of 5.1 per cent. and in biology of 4.4 per cent. Boys' improvement at grades A*—C has increased by 1.3 percentage points compared with 0.9 for girls

These results are excellent and reflect the hard work of pupils and teachers. I am encouraged that more pupils are taking maths and gaining good grades, mirroring the rise for 14 year olds. It is also good to see more pupils taking science.

As with the primary schools, some of the biggest improvements this year have been in schools in some of our poorer and lowest attaining areas. In North Tyneside early indications are that the GCSE results have increased from 48 per cent. of pupils gaining five or more good GCSEs to 54 per cent. this year. At school level the International School in Birmingham increased from 9 per cent. of its pupils gaining 5 A* to C grades last year to 32 per cent. this year — still a long way to go but huge improvement and a tribute to the leadership of these schools.

A further example of this improvement can be seen in London. For the first time all London boroughs are now achieving above 40 per cent. of pupils gaining 5 A* to C grades at GCSE. The provisional results also indicate that some of the fastest improving areas are among the most deprived boroughs: Islington is up by 7 percentage points; Tower Hamlets is up 5.3 percentage points; Haringey is up by 5.6 percentage points; Hackney is up by 5.8 percentage points; Lewisham is up by 6.3 percentage points and Newham is up by 3.9 percentage points.

These results build on very fast improvement from last year's results when Hackney was up by 8 percentage points and Islington up by 5 points. So the trend is clearly upwards.

At A level

The overall pass rate rose to 96 per cent. from 95.4 per cent. last year. A grades at A level increased by 0.8 percentage points to 22.4 per cent. and the overall AS pass rate has increased by 0.2 percentage points to 86.9 per cent. Excluding General Studies, English and Mathematics attracted the highest number of entries at A level and are two of the three most popular subjects at AS.

These results are built on the hard work of students, schools and colleges and will open up more opportunities for our young people to achieve success. I congratulate the students and thank our teachers for their commitment.

At a time when Ofsted says the standard of teaching has never been higher, we should expect to have rising levels of achievement in our schools and colleges. We are getting better as a country at getting the best out of our young people. We should applaud them and applaud their teachers, schools and colleges.

I am determined that we should move forward to improve performance further.We will continue to progress with some important developments from the start of the new school term.

Specialist schools

Some 506 specialist schools will begin operating as specialist for the first time this September. This means that 2.1 million pupils will be educated in one of the 1,954 specialist schools—62 per cent. of all English secondary schools, up from just 257 in 1997. The evidence shows that specialist schools help pupils to gain better grades.

Academies

Five new Academies open in Barnet, Hackney, Hillingdon, Lambeth and Northampton. They will build on the success of the existing 12 where I was pleased to see some excellent GCSE results this summer. For example The King's Academy in Middlesbrough where 34 per cent. of pupils achieved five or more A*—C GCSEs, an increase of around 12 percentage points on the joint results of the predecessor schools in 2003.

Workforce Reform

Workforce reform is in the next phase and the radical enhancement of the role of teachers continues. There are not just more teachers than at any time since the early 1980s but teachers are being given professional support in class with more assistants. Teachers will increasingly have more time to prepare better lessons.

Education Maintenance Allowance

This will be available nationally to help young people stay on in education, at school or college.

ICT

Current activity focuses on supporting the personalised learning and transforming school workforce agendas. Over 99 per cent. of schools in England are now connected to the Internet of which, at June 2004, 61 per cent. of primary and 98 per cent. of secondary had a connection at broadband speeds appropriate to their needs.

Schools continue to invest in the new technologies that support enhanced teaching and learning. By March 2004 63 per cent. of primary schools had an electronic interactive whiteboard (average 1.9 a school) and 92 per cent. of secondary schools (average 7.5 a school).

In the longer term I am looking forward to receiving later in the autumn the final report from Mike Tomlinson's Working Group on 14-19 Reform. He will be coming forward with proposals looking at how we stretch the most able, boost participation, improve the vocational offer and reduce the burden of assessment. 1Figures for 2004 and 2003 are not strictly comparable because of the trial involving 34 LEAs and a quarter of 7 year olds that reported only teacher assessment. The independent assessment of the trial is expected later this month and we shall comment further on these results then.