KING’S Ely has responded to reports in the local press this week that 0% of its students achieved five GCSEs including English and Maths, and that the school’s league table performance has plummeted.

The confusion springs from the fact that the school uses IGCSE qualifications in some subjects, an examination which does not qualify for inclusion in league tables. The reality is that over 94% of King’s Ely students achieved five or more passes including English and Maths.

Principal Sue Freestone said: “This is a demonstration of how misleading statistics can be. At King’s Ely, we celebrate our independence and use it to best benefit our students. We have not followed government diktat by insisting on subject combinations that comply with the English Baccalaureate and this has resulted in a default score of 0%.

She added: “We believe that to educate is to draw out the talents, gifts and abilities of the children in our care. Education should never be driven by the need to measure, compare and compartmentalise the products of a system. We seek to motivate and enable our students to do and be the best they can. King’s Ely pupils are rounded people and our aim is that they should each be empowered to dance to his or her own beat.

“We have said in the past that we are proud of the fact that our students feel sufficiently confident to select courses that meet their aspirational needs and these may not always be available at those universities which are considered the pinnacle of academia in this country, and, indeed, the world. However, when our students do aspire to places at Oxford or Cambridge, it is cause for celebration to know that they have the ability and the guidance and support from home and school to achieve Oxbridge offers. This year we have four such offers. Anna-Rose Harris and Georgia Schneider have been offered places at Newnham College and Selwyn College, Cambridge respectively, while Jamie Huffer and Laura Day have received offers from Trinity College and Queen’s College, Oxford respectively. We congratulate them and all of our Year 13 students who have achieved offers of places for next year.”

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