Written question asked by Tim Loughton (Conservative) on Tuesday, 23 February 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 1 March 2010. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Thursday, 25 March 2010 on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

GCSE

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of pupils (a) eligible and (b) not eligible for free school meals at the end of Key Stage 4 achieved five A* or A grades at GCSE including English and mathematics but excluding equivalents in (i) 2003 and (ii) 2009.

Answer

[holding answer 1 March 2010]: The information requested is presented in the following table and is for maintained schools only.

	Number of pupils¹ achieving 5 or more A* or A grades at GCSE including English and Maths (excluding equivalents)	Percentage achieving 5 or more A* or A grades at GCSE including English and Maths (excluding equivalents)
	Eligible for FSM	Not eligible for FSM	Eligible for FSM	Not eligible for FSM
2003	791	33,538	1.0	6.8
2009	1,257	45,535	1.7	9.0
¹ Figures for 2003 are based on pupils aged 15 and 2009 figures are based on pupils at the end of key stage 4.
Source:
National Pupil Database

Secondary information