Schools under fire for failing region’s pupils in key subjects

The region has some of UK’s lowest success rates in the English Baccalaureate (E-Bac) in a table measuring the performance of pupils in each parliamentary constituency.

The Yorkshire Post can reveal that just one per cent of pupils in Leeds Central earned the E-Bac – the second worst result in the country.

Great Grimsby was also in the bottom 10 nationally with 1.7 per cent of pupils making the grade and had the country’s joint lowest level of children being entered into all the subjects needed to earn the qualification.

Almost a third of the bottom 20 constituencies in the country for E-Bac success were in Yorkshire with Sheffield South East, Doncaster North, Barnsley Central and Bradford South among the worst performers.

Only 2.4 per cent of pupils made the grade in Sheffield South East while 2.9 per achieved it in Doncaster North.

Research by the Yorkshire Post also shows that 28 state schools across the region did not have a single pupil who entered the GCSEs needed to earn the E-Bac last year.

Nick Seaton, a spokesman for the Campaign for Real Education said these results were “shocking for Yorkshire” and accused schools of failing to give pupils the chance to pass important qualifications.

To earn the E-Bac pupils need at least six A* to C GCSE grades comprising English, maths, two sciences, a modern language and either history or geography.

Figures show that the success rate in 13 out of 15 education authorities in Yorkshire was below the national average.

In Barnsley just 6.1 per cent of pupils made the grade while in Hull the figure was 6.4 per cent. The national average was 17.6 per cent. Only North Yorkshire and York pupils surpassed this.

Last year, 103 schools across Yorkshire entered fewer than five per cent of their pupils for the E-Bac and 132 had fewer than five per cent of pupils achieve it.

Department for Education tables also show that 225 schools in Yorkshire had no pupils classed as being low achievers at the start of secondary school but who went on to be entered into the GCSEs needed to pass the E-Bac.

Independent schools enjoy more success than the state sector in Yorkshire. Nine out of the top 10 E-Bac schools in the region were private.