Pupils falling behind in all key subjects
1:31pm Thursday 21st September 2006 in Where I Live
by KAY MURRAY Haringey is falling below the national average in all subjects, according to provisional Key Stage 3 results released by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) last Wednesday.
The tests, which are taken by 13 to 14-year-old students in Year 9 of all secondary schools in the UK, cover English, maths and science.
The DfES regards level 5 or 6 as the expected level of attainment in the tests, but the number of pupils in the borough achieving these levels are in the minority.
English results for the borough were particularly poor, with only 23 per cent of pupils receiving level 6 and above.
Science results showed 28 per cent of pupils achieved level 6 or above, while maths figures were more promising with 43 per cent of pupils receiving level 6 or above.
Provisional figures for level 5 have not yet been released.
A Haringey Council spokes-man said: "These are provisional figures and won't be finalised by the DfES for a couple of months.
"However, it's encouraging that the number of Haringey pupils passing Key Stage 3 in maths and science has continued to improve. Where the figures for English are obviously disappointing locally, results fell across the whole country.
"English is a particular issue for an area like Haringey, which has people from so many parts of the world, but we're working hard to improve our success in this area.
"We are putting extra resources and running specific programmes for English, particularly for pupils where it is their second language."
A more comprehensive break-down of the results by individual school in the borough is expected to be released by the DfES next month.
