Jewish schools are the best-performing group of state schools at GCSE, according to new data released by the government today.
Pupils at the 11 state-aided Jewish schools in England scored an average of 60.2 points under the new Attainment 8 measure released today – almost 10 points more than the national average.
Muslim schools came next with 58.8, Sikh 57.5, Roman Catholic 52.5, Church of England 51.5, secular schools 50.4. The national average for state schools in England including academies (but excluding special schools) is 50.6.
Attainment 8 takes into account one English and maths GCSEs, which count double, a pupil’s three best GCSE results of more traditional academic subjects such as history or science and then the three best GCSE results.
Jewish school pupils also topped the table for the numbers who passed GCSE English and maths at A* to C with 82.1 per cent achieving that target, with Muslim schools next at 81.8 per cent and Sikhs 72.2 per cent – compared with a national average of 63.8 per cent.
Although Muslims are the biggest non-Christian majority in England, the number of children in Muslim schools at 672 is roughly only half that in Jewish schools, 1,316.
When it comes to the English Baccaulereate mark, Jewish schools do less well with fewer than half of pupils achieving it at 41.8 per cent. Muslim, schools top the EBacc table with 50.4 per cent, followed by Sikhs 48.9 per cent – compared with a national average of 24.9 per cent.
EBacc consists of English, maths, a foreign language, two science and history or geography GCSEs passed at C or above.
Muslims schools were also the best performing for the new Progress 8 measure, which evaluates how much progress pupils made at GCSE considering their ability on entry.
Muslim schools scored 0.79 on the new Progress measure, with Jewish schools next on 0.45 and Sikh on 0.35. The next best were Catholic schools at only 0.08, while secular schools were on -0.01, that is just below average.
In effect, pupils at Jewish schools were achieving nearly half a grade higher at GCSEs than might have predicted when they started school.
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