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Written question asked by Nick Gibb (Conservative) on Thursday, 9 July 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 13 July 2009. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Monday, 5 October 2009 on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Science: GCSE

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of pupils who achieved a GCSE in core science and one of (a) biology, (b) chemistry and (c) physics at each grade were educated in the (i) maintained mainstream and (ii) independent sector in each year since 2007.
Answer

The following figures are based on the school at which the pupil was registered at the time they sat their exams. It is possible, by moving schools, that some pupils were educated in both sectors.In 2007, there were only seven pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 achieving a GCSE in core science and at least one GCSE in biology, chemistry or physics both at grade A*-G. All of these pupils were educated in the maintained sector.In 2008, pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 achieving a GCSE in core science at grade A*-G and one or more of the separate sciences are counted in the following tables.¹"¹ Pupils that have passed core science will appear in each row for which they have passed a separate science. Pupils are counted once in the final row by their highest grade in the separate sciences."

Number
Maintained A* A B C D E F G
Biology 671 1,661 2,294 2,296 1,415 788 385 206
Chemistry 712 1,408 1,542 1,131 484 173 86 24
Physics 624 1,278 1,474 1,133 414 106 59 26
Best separate grade 1,120 2,045 2,433 2416 1,553 893 462 239
Number
Independent A* A B C D E F G
Biology 82 139 116 80 12 5 3 0
Chemistry 103 111 82 63 8 1 4 0
Physics 98 90 69 57 13 1 1 0
Best separate grade 155 156 137 73 9 5 7 0

The following tables give the percentages of the pupils achieving particular grades in the maintained and independent sector.

Percentage
Maintained A* A B C D E F G
Biology 89.1 92.3 95.2 96.6 99.2 99.4 99.2 100.0
Chemistry 87.4 92.7 95.0 94.7 98.4 99.4 95.6 100.0
Physics 86.4 93.4 95.5 95.2 97.0 99.1 98.3 100.0
Best separate grade 87.8 92.9 94.7 97.1 99.4 99.4 98.5 100.0
Percentage
Independent A* A B C D E F G
Biology 10.9 7.7 4.8 3.4 0.8 0.6 0.8 0.0
Chemistry 12.6 7.3 5.0 5.3 1.6 0.6 4.4 0.0
Physics 13.6 6.6 4.5 4.8 3.0 0.9 1.7 0.0
Best separate grade 12.2 7.1 5.3 2.9 0.6 0.6 1.5 0.0

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
496 c2311-2W; 286852
Session
2008-09
Subjects
Science GCSE
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk