Education & Training
Examination results continue to improve
15 year-olds achieving 5+ grades A*-C at GCSE or equivalent (maintained sector)
In 2006, 58 per cent of 15-year-old pupils in London's maintained schools achieved five or more higher grade passes at GCSE or equivalent. This compares with 57 per cent in the maintained sector in England as a whole.
The percentage of pupils reaching this standard at the end of Key Stage 4 in 2006 equalled or exceeded the national average in 14 London boroughs. The results in the 32 boroughs ranged from 43 per cent in Greenwich to 72 per cent in Redbridge.
In 2006, just over 1.2 million pupils attended schools in London. This was an increase of 14,000 pupils compared with 2002 and against the national trend. Approximately 10 per cent of children (126,000) in London attended independent schools, above the national average of 7 per cent.
The ethnic background of pupils in London differs from England as a whole. Approximately 50 per cent of pupils in London's maintained schools were recorded as White compared with 83 per cent in England.
In London, 22 per cent of pupils attending maintained secondary schools travel to a school in a borough other than the one in which they live. In 2006, more than half of the children living in Kensington and Chelsea and Lambeth attended schools in other boroughs. Less than one in ten children living in Newham and Tower Hamlets did so.
The level of entitlement to free school meals is higher in London than in England as a whole. In 2006, 25 per cent of pupils in London nursery and primary schools were entitled to free school meals. In equivalent schools nationally the figure was 16 per cent. The lowest level of entitlement in London was in Kingston upon Thames (7 per cent) while Tower Hamlets had the highest (52 per cent).
Participation in post-compulsory education and government-supported training in London is above the national average. In 2004/05, 83 per cent of Londoners aged 16, and 73 per cent of Londoners aged 17, were in some form of education or training. The comparable figures for England were 80 per cent and 69 per cent respectively.
Source: Department for Education and Skills (DfES)
Note: Examination data for the end of Key Stage 4 are not consistent with that for 15-year-olds because some pupils in the last year of compulsory schooling will not be included in figures for pupils at the end of Key Stage 4.
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