Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of levels of indiscipline in (a) state primary and (b) state secondary schools since the abolition of corporal punishment. [13396]
Mr. Timms: Corporal punishment was abolished in state schools in 1987 and we have no plans to reintroduce it. Data on levels of indiscipline are not available on a
6 Dec 2001 : Column: 451W
consistent basis since 1987, so it is not possible to give an assessment of how levels of discipline have changed since then.
Mr. Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children there were in classes of 30 or more, by year group, in each of the last five years. [20181]
Mr. Timms: The following is the information:
Maintained primary(4) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | |
Reception | 102,892 | 113,773 | 147,223 | 163,243 |
Year group 1 | 111,542 | 134,987 | 152,845 | 189,117 |
Year group 2 | 111,793 | 146,357 | 191,460 | 217,346 |
Year group 3 | 195,681 | 224,968 | 228,135 | 216,348 |
Year group 4 | 222,042 | 226,862 | 212,128 | 197,954 |
Year group 5 | 213,879 | 201,652 | 188,442 | 192,969 |
Year group 6 | 192,371 | 186,438 | 196,775 | 175,773 |
Year group 7 | 4,357 | 987 | 1,472 | (6) |
Mixed | 320,592 | 374,445 | 419,725 | 482,822 |
Maintained secondary | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2001(4) | 2000(5) | 1999(5) | 1998(5) | 1997(5) | |
Year group 5 | 8,423 | (6) | (6) | (6) | (6) |
Year group 6 | 8,837 | (6) | (6) | (6) | (6) |
Year group 7 | 131,250 | (6) | (6) | (6) | (6) |
Year group 8 | 163,879 | (6) | (6) | (6) | (6) |
Year group 9 | 146,462 | (6) | (6) | (6) | (6) |
Year group 10 | 73,741 | (6) | (6) | (6) | (6) |
Year group 11 | 65,838 | (6) | (6) | (6) | (6) |
Year group 12 | 1,299 | (6) | (6) | (6) | (6) |
Year group 13 | 485 | (6) | (6) | (6) | (6) |
Mixed | 28,489 | (6) | (6) | (6) | (6) |
Aged under 14 | (6) | 427,000 | 399,939 | 355,465 | 317,647 |
Aged 14 and 15 | (6) | 133,596 | 124,759 | 115,926 | 104,866 |
Aged 16 plus | (6) | 2,566 | 1,974 | 2,419 | 2,219 |
(5) Excludes middle schools
(6) Not available
Note:
Information on class sizes by year group in primary schools was not collected prior to 1998
6 Dec 2001 : Column: 452W
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the right of hon. Members to make representations to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator about constituency issues. [20773]
Mr. Timms: The role of the Schools Adjudicator is to decide on LEA school organisation plans, and individual school proposals and admission arrangements, where it has not been possible to reach agreement locally and there has been a statutory objection. Adjudicators must consider each case on its merits, taking into account all the information available to them and the views expressed by all interested parties. Hon. Members do not have statutory objection rights but are free to make representations to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator on cases under consideration, in the same way as any member of the public with a local interest. Decisions of the Schools Adjudicator are binding on the parties concerned.
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools (a) opened a new sixth form and (b) closed their sixth form in each of the last three years; in which learning and skills councils area they are located; and what the average A level points score was of each school listed under (a). [18380]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Proposals have been approved for the following schools to open new, or close existing, sixth forms during the past three years.
Year/name of school | LEA | LSC area | Average point score per student based on 2001 A/AS/AGNVQ results |
---|---|---|---|
2001 | |||
Kesgrave High School | Suffolk | Suffolk | n/a |
2000 | |||
Hamstead Hall School | Birmingham | Birmingham and Solihull | 16.6 |
The Axe Valley Community College | Devon | Devon and Cornwall | n/a |
St. Edwards RC/CofE VA School | Poole | Bournemouth/Dorset/Poole | 15.2 |
1999 | |||
The Compton High School and Sports College | Ealing | London West | 4.7 |
Filsham Valley School | East Sussex | Sussex | 10.3 |
n/a = not available
6 Dec 2001 : Column: 453W
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what criteria she has established for the distribution of the Learning and Skills Council's standards fund in 200203. [19617]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 5 December 2001]: The Learning and Skills Council is responsible for setting the criteria for distribution of its standards fund. The council will publish the criteria to post-16 providers in time for the 200203 financial year.
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assistance is available to schools wishing to establish links with other schools in the (a) European Union and (b) Commonwealth. [20867]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 5 December 2001]: The Department for Education and Skills provides assistance for schools to establish links with schools in the EU, Commonwealth and worldwide through its funding of organisations such as the British Council. Programmes include practical help with finding a school as well as a range of assistance to help with the cost of visiting the partner school.
Increasingly, school links are being made by utilising information and communication technology. For instance, schools seeking partner schools anywhere in the world can consult the Windows on the World website on the
6 Dec 2001 : Column: 454W
internet at http://www.wotw.org.uk or the Montage Plus website at http://www.montageplus.co.uk which supports joint curriculum projects between schools in this country and abroad.
EU funding is also available through the Socrates Programme, the European Action Programme in the field of education that focuses specifically on schools in the EU through the Comenius action. The programme is open to the member states of the EU as well as all the applicant countries of central and eastern Europe, Cyprus and Malta. Contact seminars for schools wishing to find partners are held regularly across Europe. The British Council publicises the action, and holds UK regional briefing meetings on the Socrates Programme to advertise the opportunities. The Partbase database (partbase.eupro.se) provides schools with an on-line search facility for finding Comenius partners.
Next Section | Index | Home Page |