House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 16 Jan 2008 (pt 0008)

16 Jan 2008 : Column 1274W—continued

Headteachers: Hampshire

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of head teachers in (a) Southampton, (b) Romsey and (c) Hampshire are within (i) one year, (ii) two years, (iii) three years, (iv) five years and (v) 10 years of standard pension age. [177421]

16 Jan 2008 : Column 1275W

Jim Knight: The information requested is not available at local authority or constituency level.

Islington Green Academy: Finance

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which trust has donated money to the Islington Green Academy via the City University; and if he will make a statement. [177221]

Jim Knight: City University London is a joint sponsor, together with the City of London Corporation, of the City of London Academy, Islington which is expected to replace Islington Green School from September 2008. The university has raised funds from four sources to provide sponsorship: the Cass Foundation, the Saddlers Company, the Kitchin Fund and a philanthropic benefactor who has expressed a wish to remain anonymous. The university and Department are respecting that wish. The donations are being made to the university, not to the academy and the donors will have no say in the running of the academy. This anonymous donor has been subject to a due diligence check by the university.

The rules relating to charitable foundations generally, not just academies, mean that not all donations need to be made public. It is commonplace for charities to receive donations from benefactors who do not wish publicity. An Academy Trust, as a charitable company, has to record its income in published annual accounts, and has to include a note with accounts on any amounts received as a charitable donation.

Sponsors of academies cannot themselves act anonymously and must be named in the Funding Agreement.

Languages: Schools

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans he has to extend modern foreign language teaching in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools; whether he plans to make the study of a modern foreign language at school compulsory; and if he will make a statement. [177922]

Jim Knight: The Children’s Plan, published in December 2007, confirmed that the primary curriculum will be reviewed, including introducing languages as a compulsory subject. This takes forward the recommendation in Lord Dearing’s Languages Review that languages should become a compulsory part of the primary curriculum, and builds on the existing entitlement for all Key Stage 2 pupils to learn a language in class time by 2010. Progress so far is good and already over 70 per cent. of primary schools are offering languages in class time. We are extending language teaching in primary schools through: a teacher training programme in a primary languages specialism, which has so far trained nearly 3,000 teachers, with thousands more to be trained over the next few years; increased funding for local authorities to support the delivery of primary languages; and access for teachers to sources of support for use in the classroom.

At secondary level, languages are compulsory at Key Stage 3 (ages 11-14). The new secondary curriculum, which will be taught from September 2008, extends the range of languages pupils can study at this level by
16 Jan 2008 : Column 1276W
relaxing the requirement that schools first teach a working language of the European Union so that they can offer any major world or European language.

As a result of the continued decline in take up of languages at GCSE following their removal from the compulsory Key Stage 4 curriculum (ages 14-16) in 2004, Lord Dearing’s Languages Review looked at how best to increase participation in language learning. He did not recommend making languages compulsory at Key Stage 4 because he felt that a ‘one size fits all’ approach was not the best way to motivate learners. Instead, he recommended a package of measures to extend language learning post-14 which we are now implementing. These include: two new performance indicators in the Achievement and Attainment Tables from 2008 to measure attainment and participation in languages; a more engaging secondary curriculum; more and better support for language teachers; a major communications campaign to promote the benefits of language teaching to pupils, parents and the school workforce; and the Open School for Languages, a major web-based initiative which will offer innovative approaches to the learning of languages.

London Academy Edgware

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families where the London Academy is ranked amongst schools for results at each key stage; and what the Academy's value-added measures were in the latest period for which figures are available. [177680]

Jim Knight: The following tables provide data on:-

(a) Where the London Academy is positioned amongst all maintained, mainstream schools (including CTCs and Academies) for 2007 (Amended) Revised KS4 results and 2006 (Amended) Revised KS3 results.

(b) The 2007 Revised CVA measures for the London Academy.

(a) Ranks amongst schools

2007 Revised KS4
London Academy	Result	Position out of 3044 schools^{( 1, 2)}
Average uncapped point score	35.5	1913
Percentage 5A*-C	54.6	1908
Percentage 5A*-C inc. English and Maths	39.1	1847

2006 Revised KS3
London Academy	Result	Position out of 3109 schools^{( 1,2)}
Average point score	32.2	2568
⁽¹⁾ All positions based on unrounded results. A rank of 1 being the highest school/measure. ⁽²⁾ All maintained mainstream schools including CTCs and Academies whose results were published in the 2006 or 2007 Achievement and Attainment tables.

(b) 2007 Revised CVA measures for the London Academy

KS2-KS4 CVA	1023.9
KS3-KS4 CVA	1012.2
Source: 2007 Amended KS4 and 2006 Amended KS3 school level attainment files

16 Jan 2008 : Column 1277W

Nurseries

Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families for how many weeks on average three and four-year-old children received the free nursery entitlement in (a) 2004-05, (b) 2005-06, (c) 2006-07 and (d) 2007-08; how many children (i) were eligible for and (ii) took up the entitlement in each of those years; how much was provided in the dedicated schools grant for the entitlement in each of those years; what the average staffing cost per child of the entitlement was in each of those years; what the average expenditure per child was on the entitlement in each local authority in each of those years; and if he will make a statement. [178357]

Beverley Hughes: Information is not available in the form requested.

Since April 2004 all three and four-year-olds have been entitled to a free part-time early education place for 12.5 hours per week for 38 weeks of the year. From 2010, this offer will be extended from 12.5 to 15 hours per week for 38 weeks of the year.

The following table provides information on the number of three and four-year-olds taking up or benefiting from early education places for the years 2004-07.

16 Jan 2008 : Column 1278W

Number of three and four-year-olds taking up or benefiting from early education places^{( 1,2,3)} by type of provider, England, 2004-07—position in January each year (2007 data as at 22 May)
	2004	2005	2006	2007
Private and voluntary providers⁽⁴⁾
Number of children taking up early education places	⁽⁵⁾445,300	⁽⁵⁾432,800	⁽⁵⁾429,400	⁽⁵⁾446,900
Percentage of population⁽⁶⁾	39	39	38	39
Number of children benefiting from some free early education	⁽⁷⁾388,600	⁽⁷⁾396,700	⁽⁸⁾401,800	⁽⁸⁾420,700
Percentage of population⁽⁶⁾	34	35	36	37

Independent schools⁽⁹⁾
Number of children taking up early education places	54,700	52,000	50,100	50,500
Percentage of population⁽⁶⁾	5	5	4	4
Number of children benefiting from some free early education	⁽⁷⁾38,400	⁽⁷⁾39,200	⁽⁸⁾37,900	⁽⁸⁾37,900
Percentage of population⁽⁶⁾	3	3	3	3

Maintained nursery and primary schools
Number of children benefiting from some free early education	676,500	663,800	657,700	663,800
Percentage of population⁽⁶⁾	59	59	59	58

Nursery schools and nursery classes in primary schools
Number of children benefiting from some free early education	320,200	312,300	312,500	318,900
Percentage of population⁽⁶⁾	28	28	28	28

Infant classes in primary schools⁽¹⁰⁾
Number of children benefiting from some free early education	356,300	351,500	345,200	344,900
Percentage of population⁽⁶⁾	31	31	31	30

Special schools^(11,12)
Number of children benefiting from some free early education	4,100	3,700	3,600	3,700
Percentage of population⁽⁶⁾	—	—	—	—

All providers
Number of children taking up early education places	⁽⁵⁾1,180,500	⁽⁵⁾1,152,400	⁽⁵⁾1,140,800	⁽⁵⁾1,165,000
Percentage of population⁽⁶⁾	103	103	102	101
Number of children benefiting from some free early education	⁽⁷⁾1,107,500	⁽⁷⁾1,103,400	⁽⁸⁾1,101,100	⁽⁸⁾1,126,100
Percentage of population⁽⁶⁾	97	98	98	98
⁽¹⁾ Headcount of children aged three and four at 31 December in the previous calendar year, rounded to the nearest hundred. ⁽²⁾ Numbers of three and four year olds in schools may include some two year olds. ⁽³⁾ Any child attending more than one provider may have been counted twice. ⁽⁴⁾ Includes some local authority day nurseries registered to receive funding. ⁽⁵⁾ Scaled up from the data as returned by providers to all providers of early years education. ⁽⁶⁾ Number of places taken up by three and four year olds expressed as a percentage of the three and four year old population. ⁽⁷⁾ Providers returned the number of three and four year olds for which they had received or expected to receive funding. ⁽⁸⁾ Local authorities returned the number of three and four-year-olds for which they expected to receive funding. ⁽⁹⁾ Includes direct grant nursery schools. ⁽¹⁰⁾ Includes reception and other classes not designated as nursery classes. ⁽¹¹⁾ Includes general hospital schools. ⁽¹²⁾ Excludes pupils w ho are also registered elsewhere. Notes: 1. Bounding of components may cause discrepancies in totals. 2. ‘—‘ = less than 0.5 per cent.

The latest figures on early education places for three and four-year-olds in England were published in Statistical First Release (SFR) 19/2007 ‘Provision for children under five years of age in England: January 2007’, available on my Department's website at:

Next Section

Index

Home Page