Private schools wanting to opt out of GSCEs ‘unable to produce the results’

Former social mobility tsar Katharine Birbalsingh says proposals come amid fears English state sector is catching up

Private schools want to opt out of GCSE exams because state schools in England are catching up with their results, the government’s former social mobility tsar Katharine Birbalsingh has said.

Commenting on moves by Latymer upper school in London and Bedales school in Hampshire to curb pupils taking GCSEs other than English and maths, Birbalsingh accused the schools of trying to hide their failures to achieve consistently high grades.