PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
GCSE: Disadvantaged (19 July 2022)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data his Department holds on the number of GCSE exam results achieved by students on free school meals, separated by grade, for each of the last five academic years.

Asked by:
Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour)

The attached table shows the collective entries for students on free school meals, broken down by GCSE grades, for the last five academic years.

Discounting has been applied where pupils have taken the same subject more than once. In 2019/20 and 2021/21, only one entry per subject is counted and we count the entry with the highest grade for results received in summer 2022. Previously only the first entry grade would count, and this is still the case for any results received before summer 2021. Double grades refer to GCSE combined science, which was introduced in 2017/18. Therefore, this data is unavailable for 2016/17.

By 2019/20 and 2020/21, all GCSEs in England have been reformed and use the new 9 to 1 grading system (rather than A*-G). Grade U refers to pupils' results which are ungraded or unclassified. Grade X refers to pupils who were absent or whose results are pending.

Answered by:
Will Quince (Conservative)
27 July 2022