How many schools in Worsley are taking part in the national schools challenge.

There are two schools in Worsley where fewer than 30 per cent. of pupils achieved five or more A* to C GCSE grades, including both English and mathematics, and are therefore part of the national challenge. The schools are already receiving bespoke support from the Greater Manchester challenge, which is aligned with the national challenge, to help them achieve this target by 2011 at the latest.

Harrop Fold school in my Constituency was already tackling the challenges, because attainment in maths on entry was only 24 per cent., compared with 48 per cent. in English, so it knew that it had some work to do. Under the excellent head teacher, Antony Edkins, it has had maths weekends, a weekly power hour and other super-learning days. Can the Minister assure me that the Government will do what they can to encourage and support schools in that situation as they work hard to meet the targets that have been set?

Like my hon. Friend, I welcome the improvements being made at Harrop Fold school, thanks to the hard work of the staff, the pupils and the parents. As she said, the results for those achieving five A* to C grades have improved significantly, from 24 per cent. to 47 per cent. Improvements in English and maths are still needed, but from what I know of the school I am confident that we will see even better results this summer and beyond. Certainly the Greater Manchester challenge will provide the school with the dedicated support that it needs to continue that upward trend.

Many schools in challenging circumstances in Worsley and elsewhere are already offering students a mix of courses, including GCSEs and BTEC vocational courses. How will schools that are adopting that strategy be affected by the national schools challenge? I have concerns about that.

We intend that the national challenge will give schools the opportunity to assess and diagnose, with expert assistance, the particular issues for each school. They will then be assisted in putting in place a package of support to address those issues. Schools that are trying to provide a wide range of options will get the support they need and BTEC courses will count as part of the challenge.