Revealed: GCSE shame of ‘flagship’ academies

SIX of the Government’s flagship Academies can today be revealed as the worst schools in England for GCSE results.

The academies performed so poorly last year that at least half their pupils did not gain any passes at C grade or above, a Mail on Sunday investigation has found.

Some of the schools have been warned by Ministers to improve their standards or face intervention by the Department for Education, while others say they have not been academies for long enough to turn around results.

Christopher McGovern, chairman of the Campaign For Real Education, said: ‘These results represent a massive betrayal of the young people concerned.’

The controversial academies programme has been backed by Education Secretary Michael Gove as a way of boosting standards.

The new figures, obtained from the Department for Education under Freedom of Information laws, differ from official exam tables because they show only the schools’ GCSE results and exclude so-called ‘equivalent’ national vocational qualifications. But they will renew criticism that academies, which operate independently of town halls, often having business-backed sponsors, lack accountability.

Worst performing was the Barnfield Business and Enterprise Studio Academy in Luton, where 71 per cent of pupils failed to get a pass.

The school defended its record saying it provides ‘a unique, skills-focused education for students who would otherwise be disengaged’, adding results based solely on GCSE passes did not reflect its students’ real improvement.