Sector Statistics

Pupil Numbers
Overseas Pupils
Teaching Staff
GCSE and IGCSE Results
Year 13 Results
Entrance to Higher Education
Bursaries & Scholarships


Pupil Numbers
Pupils in ISC schools account for more than 80% of the total number of pupils in independent schools in the UK. The UK independent sector as a whole educates 628,000 children in around 2,600 independent schools. The independent sector educates around 6.5% of the total number of schoolchildren in the UK (and over 7% of the total number of schoolchildren in England) with the figure rising to more than 18% of pupils over the age of 16.

There are now 506,500 children in ISC schools in the UK and Republic of Ireland. Of these:

  • 68,102 are boarders and 438,398 are day pupils
  • 258,154 are boys and 248,346 are girls
  • 45,259 are nursery age (0-4)
  • 155,286 are primary age (5-10)
  • 222,124 are senior age (11-15)
  • 83,831 are sixth form age (16-19)

In schools that were members of ISC in in 2010/11 and 2009/10, pupil numbers fell slightly (by 0.2%) from one year to the next. The drop represents a marginal check on the trend of growth in recent years: between 2005/06 and 2008/09, the average annual growth in pupil numbers had been 0.3%. This year’s drop coupled with last year’s 0.6% decrease brings the sector closer in line to recent trends in the maintained sector where, over the same period, there had been an average annual decline in pupil numbers of 0.6%.


Overseas Pupils
24,554 pupils are non-British with parents living overseas. In 2010/11, there were 10,900 non-British pupils with parents living overseas who were new to ISC schools that academic year. 36% of these were from Hong Kong and China, and nearly a third were from Europe. Detailed figures can be found in the ISC Census 2010. 


Teaching Staff
In 2010/11, there were 46,109 full time teachers in ISC schools and 18,216 part time teachers who worked 259,531 hours. Teacher turnover, as a proportion of the number of full-time staff employed, remained relatively constant at 12.9%, up from 11.7% last year. A total of 1,593 teachers from maintained schools took up posts in ISC schools, while 485 moved from ISC schools into the maintained sector, giving a net gain of 1,108.


GCSE and IGCSE Results
In 2010, 41,039 candidates from 571 ISC schools took 351,664 GCSEs. Candidates took an average of 9.6 GCSE and IGCSE subjects each, and:

  • More than one entry in four (29.5%) received the A* grade, up from 28.9 in 2009 (compared to 7.5% nationally, up from 7.1% in 2009).
  • 60.2% of all exam entries were graded A* or A, up from 59.8% in 2009 (compared to 22.6% nationally, up from 21.6% in 2009).

In addition, in 2010 pupils at ISC schools took more than 44,000 IGCSEs, accounting for 11.1% of all Year 11 ISC exam entries.

Considering the GCSE and IGCSE results from pupils at ISC schools together:

  • 95.3% achieved grades A* to C, up from 95.1% in 2009 (nationally, 69.1% were graded A* to C, compared with 67.1% in 2009).
  • 93.1% achieved 5 results grades A*-C including Maths and English, and 80.7% achieved 5 results at grades A*-C including Maths, English, a Science and a Modern Foreign Language.
  • In 240 schools (42% of schools supplying data), every pupil achieved five or more A*-C grades. In a further 159 schools (a further 27.8% of the total), 95% or more of pupils achieved this standard.

Access ISC GCSE Results Tables here.


Year 13 Results

A Levels
In 2010, 33,466 candidates from 483 ISC schools took A-Levels. Of the 107,435 entries from these candidates:

  • 18.2% were awarded the new grade A* (compared with 8.1% nationally)
  • 52% of entries were awarded at least an A grade, up by 0.08% on 2009 (national average 27%, up by 0.3% on 2009)
  • 6.3% of ISC candidates (2,108 pupils) were awarded three or more A* grade

Pre-U
In 2010, 552 pupils (1.57% of the Year 13 ISC cohort), at 23 schools, took at least one Pre-U.  Between them, they took a total of 744 Pre-Us.

International Baccalaureate (IB):
1,485 pupils (4.22% of the Year 13 ISC cohort), at 43 schools, took the IB.

BTEC:
192 pupils (0.55% of the Year 13 ISC cohort), at 22 schools, took at least one BTEC.

Extended Project Qualification (EPQ):
854 pupils (2.43% of the Year 13 ISC cohort), at 102 schools, took the EPQ. 

Comparisons in 2006 with national figures show that pupils from ISC schools account for 14.8% of entries at A-level and 28.6% of the total A grades awarded.


Entrance to Higher Education
91.5% of sixth-form leavers from ISC schools continued to higher education in 2009, well over double the national average. In 2010, 36,949 post-18 school leavers went on to Higher Education from ISC schools.

97% of ISC pupils get at least one offer from university, with more than 70% of them from a Sunday Times top 25 university.

Figures from the Higher Education Statistics Authority show that 46.1% of the Oxbridge undergraduate intake in 2009/10 was from independent schools.


Bursaries & Scholarships

At least 164,105 pupils at ISC schools (33.2%) received help with their fees in 2010/110. The majority of these pupils – 138,975 - received scholarships or bursaries from their school. The value of this assistance was over £550 million.

The increasing number of children receiving help with fees from schools is a trend that began in the recession of the early 1990s as more families needed school bursaries to enable pupils at crucial examination stages to remain at the school. It has been boosted in recent years as schools have provided more financial help to compensate for the loss of Government Assisted Places.