Exams aren’t everything, say private schools

Pupils taking fewer GCSES as teachers push them to pursue sport and music as part of complete education

PRIVATE school pupils are taking fewer GCSES, figures show, as headteachers say they are making children take part in more extra-curricular activities instead.

A growing number of the country’s leading fee-paying schools are now encouraging pupils to take on fewer GCSES to make space in the day for other pursuits, according to Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent Schools Council (ISC).

“I think schools have become more confident about the idea that they can offer more things that are of great educational value but not part of a formal public exam,” he said.

“We are putting more emphasis than ever on things like sport, art, music, drama, community service – these are not merely optional extras, they are regarded as fundamental to a good education.”

Mr Lenon, a former headmaster of £41,775-a-year Harrow School in London, said that nine GCSES were “more than enough” to impress a top university, adding that grades mattered “very much more than the number that you have sat”.

The average number of GCSES taken by privately educated pupils is now 9.4, down from 9.7 a decade ago, according to data published by the ISC today.

The highest proportion of 16-yearolds in England (27 per cent) take nine GCSES, according to Ofqual, while another 23 per cent take eight subjects, and 17.7 per cent of pupils take 10 or more GCSES.

Julian Thomas, the former master at Wellington College, Berks, who retired earlier this year, said that students previously took up to 13 GCSES but he made a “conscious decision” to cut this down to 10. He said this allowed pupils more time to think creatively about subjects and the links between them.

“Many schools are committed to taking lots of GCSES, 13 or more. The nature of taking so many is you are limited in how creatively you can deliver it,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“In our year nine curriculum, I introduced ‘lab time’ to allow students to meet with staff in smaller groups to develop academic thinking, as well as undertake independent research.”

He described how taking fewer subjects made space for greater academic enrichment, lecture programmes, clubs, societies and activities. Students at £37,200-a-year Bedales School, in Hampshire, only take around five GCSES in English, maths, a science, a language and a humanity.

The school, whose alumni include the pop star Lily Allen and the broadcaster Kirstie Allsopp, offers a range of alternative courses to GCSES in subjects such as global awareness, gender politics and human geography.

Magnus Bashaarat, the headmaster of Bedales, said: “We had the guts to say we don’t think GCSES are the future. We went it alone. But more and more schools are asking those questions.”

This year, London’s Westminster School came top in the private school GCSE league tables, with 98.61 per cent of students achieving grades 7, 8 or 9, equivalent to As and A*s. The school, which charges up to £41,600 a year, counts the actress Helena Bonhamcarter and former deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg among its alumni.

This year, almost a quarter (23.1 per cent) of all private school GCSE exams were awarded a grade 9, the highest possible mark.

However, the proportion of top grades awarded as 7, 8 or 9 at private schools was 62.1 per cent, down from 62.6 per cent last year. Nationally, 20.8 per cent achieved these grades, up from 20.5 per cent last year.