You can’t even study A-levels in Knowsley

KNOWSLEY in Merseyside is Labour to the core – and an education disaster zone.

The borough consistently scores the worst GCSE results in the country. It has the highest proportion of failing secondaries and none of them provide A-levels.

Four of its six secondaries are falling below the government standard for secondary school pupils. It means that in these schools, not enough students have made an acceptable amount of progress between the ages of 11 and 16.

In 2016, the last sixth form closed in the borough, because too few youngsters wanted to join – meaning anyone wanting to do A-levels has to travel out of the area.

Many children drop out altogether, with 15 per cent of them not in education or training. Ofsted inspector Christopher Russell highlighted Knowsley because almost two-thirds of students failed to achieve five or more GCSE A* to C grades including English and maths. ‘This is a shocking statistic,’ he said.

The borough, which has around 150,000 residents, is one of the most deprived areas in England. More than 15 per cent of the workingage population have no qualifications, compared to a national average of 8 per cent.

Around 97 per cent of residents are white and 81 per cent describe themselves as Christian – the highest proportion of any borough. Nicknamed the ‘People’s Republic of Knowsley’, it is the safest Labour council in the country.