18th March 2016
Mind the Gap: Inner London languishing on A Level performance tables
++ London’s educational success tails off after GCSE with A Levels suffering ++
++ 16-19 free schools out-perform all other types of state school ++
++ Inner London comes bottom of the class, lagging behind the North of England ++
New research by New Schools Network and SchoolDash has found that although London children
perform significantly better than the rest of the country from 11 to 16, performance tails off at A Level.
Only one in eight pupils in Inner London are achieving AAB or better at A Level, compared to one in six
pupils across England. By this measure, Inner London is falling behind all other regions in the country,
including those in the North, contrary to typical trends in educational achievement.
This lag only occurs at the post 16 stage. Inner London achieves above-average performance at both
GCSE and Key Stage 2. At Key Stage 2 inner city areas perform four percentage points above England as
a whole, and at GCSE they are doing two percentage points better than the national standard. But at A
Level, Inner London lags behind by more than three per cent. Across London as a whole, A Level
performance is the same as the national average, despite exceptional performance earlier in a child’s
education.
Figure 1 – Inner London comparison to the national standard
Inner London comparison to the national standard
5.00%
4.00%
4.00%
3.00%
2.40%
2.00%
1.00%
0.00%
1
-1.00%
-2.00%
-3.00%
-3.10%
-4.00%
Key Stage 2
GCSE
A Level
A Level performance varies widely across the capital, with some local authorities performing well and
others performing very poorly. Sutton, Kensington and Chelsea and Barnet are amongst the best local
authorities, but a significant number of other boroughs fall behind. For example, Croydon is one of the
worst-performing local authorities in England, while Richmond-upon-Thames also posts results that are
significantly below average.
18th March 2016
Figure 2 - GCSE performance (% of students achieving 5 A*-C at GCSE including English and Maths)
across London in 2015
Figure 3 - A Level performance (% of students achieving AAB or more at A Level, of which at least two
are in facilitating subjects) across London in 2015
18th March 2016
Regionally, Inner London falls behind all other regions of England for the proportion of students
achieving AAB or more at A Level. The East of England and the South East come out on top.
Region
East of England
South East
Outer London
South West
North West
Yorkshire and the Humber
East Midlands
West Midlands
North East
Inner London
(% of students achieving AAB or more at A Level)
17.6
17.4
17.3
17.1
16
14.3
14
13.7
13
12.8
Against this backdrop, 16-19 free schools are driving a fight-back to improve standards, with recent data
showing they are outperforming all other types of state schools at A Level.
Despite being open for no more than three years, students at 16-19 free schools performed
exceptionally well in last year’s examinations, with over 20% achieving AAB or better and 14% achieving
three A-A* grades or better. Furthermore, a higher proportion of students achieved AAB or better in
facilitating subjects, those deemed by Russell Group universities as subjects that best prepare students
for university. 70% of all free school A Level entries were in the facilitating subjects, compared to under
half across all state schools.
London free schools are also leading the way, performing as well as independent schools in terms of
Oxbridge offers. This year eleven students at the King’s College London Mathematics School, one in five
of their A Level cohort, received Oxbridge offers. The London Academy of Excellence received eight
Oxbridge offers, and Harris Westminster Sixth Form got ten.
Nick Timothy, Director of New Schools Network, said:
“This analysis shows that despite improvements at Key Stage 2 and GCSE, we cannot afford to take our
foot off the pedal if London is to continue being an educational success story. 16-19 free schools are
outperforming all other types of state school at A Level, and are getting children from the most deprived
backgrounds into the very best universities. We need more free schools for London, and for the country
as a whole, and we need them now.”
Notes:
-
-
A Level performance across the country is drawn from Department for Education, A Level and
other level 3 results, 2014 to 2015 (revised). 15.9% of pupils in state funded schools and colleges
across England achieved AAB or better at A Level. In Inner London, this was 12.8%.
The difference from the national standard in Inner London was calculated by comparing Inner
London rates at Key Stage 2, GCSE and A Level to the national level for state funded schools and
colleges, and working out the percentage points difference between the two figures:
18th March 2016
Key Stage 2 (%
of students
achieving L4 or
above in
reading,
mathematics
and writing TA)
84%
-
Percentage
points difference
from national
level
GCSE (5 A*-C
including
English and
Maths)
Percentage
points
difference
from
national
level
A Level (% of
students
achieving AAB
or better at A
Level)
Percentage
points
difference
from
national
level
+4.00
59.7%
+2.40
12.8%
-3.10
The proportion of pupils that achieve AAB or better at A Level is not reported by school-level. As
a result the proportion of pupils that achieve AAB, of which at least two are in facilitating
subjects, is used to map A Level performance in Figure 3.
- 20.6% of pupils in 16-19 free schools that posted A Level results in 2015 received AAB or better
at A Level. 14.2% of students in these schools received 3 A*-A grades or better. 16-19 free
schools received the highest average A Level point score per entry by cohort amongst state
funded schools, with 220.3 points. Independent schools received 242.5 points.
- London sees a higher proportion of pupils going onto school sixth forms or sixth form colleges
rather than further education colleges than other regions. 63% of pupils leaving Key Stage 4 go
on to sixth forms in Inner London, and 66% of pupils do so in Outer London. This compares to
40% and 47% in the North East and North West respectively. This may partly explain the
divergence in A Level results in London. This information is drawn from Destinations of key stage
4 and key stage 5 pupils: 2014 (January 2016).
- Free schools are state funded schools that are independent of local authority control. They have
the freedom to decide the length of school day and term, their curriculum, teacher pay and how
they spend their budgets.
- More than three quarters of free schools that have been inspected under the new tougher
Ofsted framework, have been judged as Good or Outstanding. They are more likely to be judged
as Outstanding when compared to other state schools.
New Schools Network is an independent charity that provides support to groups wanting to set up
free schools: www.newschoolsnetwork.org
SchoolDash provides maps, dashboards and other statistics about schools in England, for use by
parents, governors, teachers, pupils, policymakers, journalists and anyone else interested in the
activities and achievements of our nation’s schools: https://www.schooldash.com/