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Written question asked by Chris Skidmore (Conservative) on Tuesday, 10 January 2012, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 12 January 2012. It was answered by Nick Gibb (Conservative) on Thursday, 2 February 2012 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Science: GCSE

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) how many schools with a specialism in science did not enter any pupils for GCSEs in (a) chemistry, (b) physics, (c) biology and (d) all three separate sciences in the last three years;
Answer

Following the announcement on 20 October 2010 regarding the specialist schools programme, by the Secretary of State for Education, the right hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), we removed the bureaucratic burden of schools designating or re-designating as specialist. From 1 April 2011, schools were no longer required to inform DFE of changes or additions to their specialism, therefore we only hold information on the specialism of schools in 2010 and earlier. The information requested is shown in the following table:

Number of schools with a specialism in science¹ not entering pupils for GCSES in chemistry, physics, biology and all three separate sciences (combined). Years: 2008-10 (Final). Coverage: England
(a) Chemistry (b) Physics (c) Biology (d) All three separate sciences
2008 120 120 110 123
2009 97 98 91 99
2010 27 27 26 27
¹ As reported in the Secondary School Performance Tables in each year. Schools may have more than one specialism.

There were 550 mainstream maintained schools in which no pupils were entered for each of the three separate sciences in the 2010/11 academic year.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
89457; 539 c742-3W
Session
2010-12
Subjects
Science GCSE
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk