GCSE: Free Schools Meals
Education
Frank Field (Birkenhead, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of children gained five or more A* to C grades at GCSE in English, mathematics, the sciences, a foreign language and a humanity in each year since GCSEs were introduced; and how many of those were (a) eligible and (b) ineligible for free school meals in each such year.
Nick Gibb (Minister of State (Schools), Education; Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, Conservative)
holding answer
This question can be interpreted in two ways. We have provided figures for each of the subjects separately and an overall figure, for pupils that achieved GCSEs at grade A*-C in all of the listed subjects.
The figures requested for 2009 and 2010 are given in the following table:
| Number of pupils( 1) achieving A*-C GCSE grades by free school meal eligi bility. Years: 2009-10 (amended)( 2) . Coverage: England, maintained schools (including academies and CTCs) | ||||||
| Pupils known to be eligible for free school meals | Pupils not eligible for free school meals | All pupils( 3) | ||||
| 2009 | 2010 | 2009 | 2010 | 2009 | 2010 | |
| All pupils: | 74,419 | 77,324 | 504,377 | 500,640 | 578,840 | 578,063 |
| Achieving A*-C grades by subject: | ||||||
| English | ||||||
| Number | 27,905 | 33,178 | 329,914 | 349,405 | 357,846 | 382,649 |
| Percentage of pupils | 37.5 | 42.9 | 65.4 | 69.8 | 61.8 | 66.2 |
| Mathematics | ||||||
| Number | 26,075 | 30,625 | 312,568 | 329,997 | 338,673 | 360,685 |
| Percentage of pupils | 35.0 | 39.6 | 62.0 | 65.9 | 58.5 | 62.4 |
| At least two sciences( 4) | ||||||
| Number | 15,917 | 17,570 | 238,278 | 245,507 | 254,203 | 263,103 |
| Percentage of pupils | 21.4 | 22.7 | 47.2 | 49.0 | 43.9 | 45.5 |
| Humanities( 5) | ||||||
| Number | 9,115 | 9,997 | 172,973 | 174,082 | 182,098 | 184,095 |
| Percentage of pupils | 12.2 | 12.9 | 34.3 | 34.8 | 31.5 | 31.8 |
| Modern Languages( 6) | ||||||
| Number | 10,156 | 10,420 | 151,824 | 150,851 | 161,990 | 161,299 |
| Percentage of pupils | 13.6 | 13.5 | 30.1 | 30.1 | 28.0 | 27.9 |
| GCSEs at grade A*-C inc. all of the above subjects | ||||||
| Number | 2,848 | 3,161 | 83,478 | 84,701 | 86,326 | 87,869 |
| Percentage of pupils | 3.8 | 4.1 | 16.6 | 16.9 | 14.9 | 15.2 |
| (1) Number of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4. (2) 2009 figures are based on final data; 2010 figures are based on amended data. (3) Includes pupils for whom free school meal eligibility could not be determined. (4) Pupils w ho achieved grade A*-C at (i) Double award Science GCSE, (ii) in both (Core Science or Single Science) and Additional Science GCSEs or (iii) were entered Physics, Chemistry and Biological Science and achieved A*-C grades in at least two of them. (5) Pupils w ho achieved grade A*-C at GCSE in History, Geography or both subjects. There is no set definition of 'Humanities', this definition is in line with the proposed English Baccalaureate. (6) Pupils w ho achieved grade A*-C at GCSE in at least one of the following subjects: French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Modern Greek, Portuguese, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Gujarati, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Panjabi, Polish, Russian, Turkish, Urdu, Persian. Source: National Pupil Database | ||||||
Figures for previous years are available only at disproportionate cost.
The subjects in this PQ are similar but not the same as those in the English Baccalaureate. National and school level data on individual GCSE subjects, indicators excluding equivalences and the components of the English Baccalaureate, were published on
http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000985/index.shtml