Academies help reduce private and state gap
ACADEMIES are driving up educational standards, campaigners have said, as A-level figures today show the gap between pupils gaining the highest grade at state and private schools is at its narrowest yet.
When the A* grade was introduced in 2010 there were 203 academies compared with nearly 4,000 now.
In that time the proportion of privately-educated pupils gaining a top grade has gone down significantly. Private schools have been hit disproportionately by efforts to cap grade inflation.
In 2010 18.2 per cent of Alevels at private schools, were at the top grade compared with a national average of 8.1 per cent.
But this year while the national average remained the same, private schools achieved only 17.9 per cent – their lowest ever score.
This year the gap has also narrowed when it comes to A grades, with a national average of 25.8 per cent compared with 48.7 per cent for independent pupils.
The gap, 22.9 percentage points, is down from 25 percentage points in 2010.
Jonathan Simons, head of education at the Policy Exchange think tank, said: “Some of the independent schools cannot compete with the state sector and middle-class parents are wondering why they should be paying this much.”
Results collated by The Daily Telegraph showed that some academies, including Queen Elizabeth’s school in Barnet, north London had nearly 90 per cent of pupils achieving two As and a B or above. Ralph Lucas, of the Good Schools Guide, said: “The independent [schools] percentage shows a steady decline from 2011. Perhaps independent schools as a whole are admitting a broader range of children.”
Last night leading private school heads defended this year’s results as “solid”.
Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent Schools Council (ISC), said: “Independent schools get more than twice the rate of A*\ A grades than state schools. Both sectors have seen a small reduction in recent years. In the case of independent schools we know that this is because a proportion of our most selective schools have switched to [alternative qualifications] Pre-U and IB.”