Call for scrutiny of sixth forms

Schools should be monitored more closely over whether they are ejecting under-performing sixth form students to boost their standing in league tables, according to a campaign group.

The Kent Education Network, which opposes grammar schools, said KCC should oversee what policies secondary schools adopted over sixth form students who did poorly in AS exams in Year 12.

Claims that some of Kent’s top secondary schools encourage under-performing students to leave have come under renewed scrutiny after parents started legal proceedings against St Olave’s Grammar School in Orpington.

The action was brought by families who believed their children had been excluded after their first year for doing poorly in AS exams.

The school has now offered to take back the students it asked to leave.

The Department for Education says schools can only exclude pupils for disciplinary matters, not for poor standards.

Its statement said: “Schools are not allowed to remove pupils from a sixth form because of academic attainment once they are enrolled. Excluding pupils temporarily or permanently for non-disciplinary reasons is unlawful.”

Jo Bartley, of Kent Education Network, said: “Some schools clearly care more about their position in the league tables than the wel- fare of their pupils. It is definitely something that should be monitored and KCC should be doing it.”

Peter Read, a former Kent grammar school head teacher and education consultant, was one of the first to flag up the issue.

He raised questions over the number of students who had left two of the county’s topperforming schools last year – Invicta Grammar School and Maidstone Girls Grammar.

He said there were suggestions – firmly denied by the schools – that students who did not secure top grades in their AS levels were being encouraged to leave as a way of the schools maintaining their reputation for A-level results.