Borough is lagging in Oxbridge league table
ROCHDALE is among the town’s and boroughs that sends fewest students to Oxford or Cambridge universities, it has been revealed.
The town along with Barnsley, North East Lincolnshire, South Tyneside, Merton, and Rutland send four each.
Salford is one of three “Oxbridge Deserts” with no pupils from state-funded schools making it into either Oxford or Cambridge University.
A total of 1,332 students finished A-levels or other level 3 qualifications at statefunded secondary schools and colleges at the end of the 2019/20 academic year.
None of those went to either Oxford or Cambridge, according to the latest figures from the Department for Education.
It makes Salford by far the largest of only three local authorities where none of its 2019/20 cohort made it to the country’s two most prestigious universities. The others are Hartlepool and Knowsley, but they only had 372 and 32 students respectively studying A-levels or equivalent at state-funded secondary schools and colleges.
Meanwhile, Thurrock sent just one student to Oxbridge. Sandwell, Blackburn with Darwen, Southampton, Portsmouth, Stockton-ontees, and Redcar and Cleveland sent just two each, North Lincolnshire and Halton sent three each.
A total of 35 of the school’s pupils progressed to one of the country’s top two universities after leaving at the end of the 2019/20 academic year, according to newly released data from the Department for Education. That works out at around two out of every seven pupils (28.2%), which is a larger percentage than at any other state-funded secondary school or college in the country.
King’s College London Maths School in Lambeth has the next best record in
both the country and capital, with 25.0% of pupils (17 in total) going to Oxbridge.
Brampton Manor Academy in Newham had the next-best record with 18.2% of the 2019/20 cohort (53 in total). That’s followed by Exeter Mathematics School with
18.0% (11 pupils in total), The Tiffin Girls’ School in Kingston upon Thames with
16.8% (27 pupils), and Chelmsford County High School for Girls in Essex with
16.7% (19 pupils).
Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridgeshire sent the highest number of pupils to Oxbridge of any school or college in England with 59 in total. That’s followed by Brampton Manor Academy in London with 53, Brighton Hove and Sussex Sixth Form College with 50, and Peter Symonds College in Hampshire with 43.
Not every part of the country managed to send pupils to
Oxford or Cambridge, however. Salford is one of three “Oxbridge Deserts” with no pupils from state-funded schools making it into either Oxford or Cambridge University. At the other end of the scale, Hertfordshire saw 137 students make it to Oxbridge, a higher number than any other local authority in England. Kent wasn’t far behind with 136 students, followed by Barnet with 125, Hampshire with 117, Newham with 113, and Buckinghamshire with 110.
Reading was the best performer relative to its size though with 6.1% of 2019/20 school leavers making it to Oxbridge. Newham had the next-best ratio at 4.2%, followed by Barnet at 3.6% and Sutton at 3.3%.
There’s a North/south divide, with pupils in the South almost twice as likely as those in the North to go to Oxbridge. A total of 1.3% of pupils in the South made it to Oxbridge, compared to 0.7% in the North and 0.8% in the Midlands.