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Five-year-old girl passes GCSE maths as pupils under pressure to take exams younger
Tim Ross, Education Correspondent24 Aug 2010
A girl of five today became the youngest child to pass a GCSE amid concern that pupils are being pressured into taking exams too early.
Results reveal that 83,000 pupils sat GCSE maths before the intended age of 16 this year — almost three times as many as in 2008.
Dee Alli from Southwark set the record for a five-year-old by getting a C in maths. She said: “I treat maths as a game so I don't think of it as an exam. I find maths very easy.”
Seven-year-old Oscar Selby was celebrating after he became the youngest to achieve an A starred.
But experts raised new fears that children are under too much pressure. Professor Alan Smithers said schools wanted to push pupils to pass while some parents were competing with each other over results. “Our education system has become too dominated by exams,” he said.
GCSE results: See how your school performed
Altogether 750,000 teenagers received their grades. Results from England's exam boards show:
Record numbers of top grades were awarded with 22.6 per cent of GCSE exams given A starred or As and 69.1 per cent at least C grades.
Girls soared further ahead of boys than ever before, with 25.5 per cent of exams taken by girls awarded As and 19.5 per cent for boys.
Foreign languages are in freefall with the number of pupils taking French and German down by almost half.
The numbers of pupils taking separate sciences increased significantly, in response to calls from employers for more qualified scientists. But the most dramatic development was the surge in the number of pupils being entered for GCSEs aged 15 or younger. There are fears that exams now dominate school life, depriving children of a rounded education.
John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said teachers were entering their brightest pupils for GCSEs early so they could move on to begin A-level courses aged 15 or 16.
Maddie Miller, who is 16 and studied at City of London School for Girls, said revision left her and her classmates “worn-out”, adding: “I don't think it's fair that the system works like that. When we were studying for the exams, school life felt quite pressurised.
“School life is too exam orientated — it is less about learning, and more about achieving. With increasing numbers of students continuing their education until A-levels, there is no need for so many exams in between.”
Dee Alli said she was inspired to take the exam by her friend Paula Imafidon, who with her twin Peter got the highest-ever grade in a Cambridge advanced maths exam at the age of nine.
Dee's mother Joy said: We are very grateful for Dee's association with Paula. It has changed her outlook on learning.” Dee took her exam at the Excellence in Education Centre in Southwark. She said: “I feel excited, it's a game so I didn't know I was being graded. I play maths games with my friend Paula. I like playing maths games with her. I treat maths as a game so I don't really think of it as an exam. I find maths very, very easy.”
When asked whether she would like to do any more maths exams she said: “I want to be a princess that lives in a big house so I can count my money.”
In maths this year, 83,179 pupils took the exam aged 15 or younger, compared with 33,000 in 2008. A similar pattern emerged for English.
Headteachers admitted some schools were entering “borderline” pupils several times for the same exams, starting aged 14 or 15 in the hope that they will edge up to get a C-grade. Government targets and league tables rate schools on how many C-grades their pupils achieve.
The results showed a sharp rise in candidates choosing separate biology, chemistry and physics, with entries for all three subjects up by about 30 per cent in the last 12 months.
Religious studies and history also showed signs of a revival this year.
However, the new diplomas in largely vocational subjects proved less successful, with just half of the candidates who started the higher level courses completing this year. The basic maths and English elements of the courses were seen as too hard for many teenagers and no one passed diplomas this year in hair and beauty studies, or manufacturing and product design.
The sisters who share a birthday... and grades
Identical twins Amy and Melissa Gullett got 18 GCSEs each today — all A* to B and all in the same subjects.
In 13 of their GCSEs the 16-year-olds from Coulsdon had the same results.
The twins, pupils at Oasis Academy in Coulsdon, flew home from Greece, where they lived for four years when they were younger, to collect their results.
They said their results were “a bit creepy” but they were not really surprised. Melissa said: “We got the same marks in primary school too, it's a bit creepy but it's not really that surprising.”
Her sister Amy added: “There's a lot of pressure on us to get an A* in Greek but apart from that we've just got on with things.”
Twin brothers chalk up 27 A*s
A pair of identical twins were celebrating today after they scooped more than 25 A*s between them.
Logan and Cumar Vasudeva, pupils at City of London School, got 22 A*s and two As. Including the three GCSEs they took last year, today's results bring their total up to 27 A*s and three As.
The brothers, from Edgware, got GCSEs in the same subjects except where one chose geography and the other history.
Logan said: “We're good at similar subjects like maths and sciences. Sometimes we argue, but it's ok. In maths we're quite competitive.”
2012 hopeful swims ahead
Jessica Harper, 16, hopes to represent Great Britain as a swimmer in the Paralympics.
Despite training for 14 hours a week, the Putney High School pupil scooped eight A* grades and two As.
She travels for more than nine hours a week to pursue her dream of competing in London 2012.
Jessica said: “I am very fortunate to have great support from my school, family and friends. This year was extremely busy as I tried to balance my swimming training with my studies, while still trying to have some sort of social life.”
Putney girls hit high spots
Girls at Putney High School were celebrating record GCSE results this morning.
Imogen Collier, 16, from Barnes, had four A*s and seven As. “I have had so many nightmares about today,” she said. She will celebrate at Reading Festival this weekend with her friend Hannah Kessler, 16, who got three A*s, four As and two Bs.
Putney High achieved A* or A grade in 91 per cent of entries.
GCSE results: See how your school performed
Reader views (18)
So five-year old Dee Alli gets a C in maths and reckons "“I treat maths as a game so I don't think of it as an exam."
Perhaps if she took it seriously and had worked a bit harder, she might have got an A.
Tut tut, kids today, eh?
- Arfur Towcrate, Staffycher, 25/08/2010 10:24
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One should first learn to speak ENGLISH be it Coca Cola or Big Mac with fries please.
- Richard Merrell, Wentworth Falls NSW, Australia, 25/08/2010 01:00
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Sorry the language of the future has got to be Turkish this will enable you to get a well paid job at the benefits office.
- Steve, london, 24/08/2010 18:24
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I think that it is sad that a five-year-old's childhood is ruined by seemingly ambitious parents.
- Ian, London, 24/08/2010 16:37
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I think childhood should be fully abolished (we are half way there already) and GCSEs should be taken at 10 years of age and A Levels at 12. That way, people would enter the job market at 10 and might be able to retire at the age of 75 (having paid off their Yooni fees by 40 years of age so that they can finally take out a mortgage). There, now elect me to the Con Lib government for my foresight.
- In Mourning for our Nation, Tottenham, 24/08/2010 16:34
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More proof on how our education system has been dumbed down so much over the last decade that now a five year old can pass a GCSE math exam; The Labour party is the party that just cant stop giving even once removed from office.
- Dirk Diggler, Soho, London, UK, 24/08/2010 14:34
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Some people seem to think you should only learn a language in order to seal business deals. There are a many other reasons to learn one or more foreign languages, and in that respect French and German remain pretty much indispensable, as does Latin, and to a lesser extent, Greek. Sadly the effort required to master any of these seems to be too much to ask for a dumbed-down generation of mono-Anglophone children.
- Alex, Fulham, 24/08/2010 13:35
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@HK "what do you need now for a C grade? 20% or more, probably"
It doesn't work like that. In maths pupils are streamed, as we used to be, but don't actually sit the same exam. So somebody in stream 1 would sit a paper whereby you can either get an A/A*, a B or a fail and the questions reflect that. If you are in the B stream you will find that the exam contains proprtionately more easier questions so there's no (I think) chance of getting an A* but if you clock very high marks you can still get an A, but will more leikely end up with a B or C at worse. Moving in onto the C stream you get a really easy paper, which might allow you to obtain a B, but more than likely walk away with a C.
- Mark, Gerrymandered African Republic of Southwark, 24/08/2010 13:20
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The language of the future is of course Hebrew, believe it or not.
- PeterR, London, 24/08/2010 13:08
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The fact that a 5 year old can pass the exam (by the way, what do you need now for a C grade? 20% or more, probably) tells you all you need to know, really. Not knocking the 5 year old, just the woeful state of secondary and, inevitably, tertiary education in modern Britain.
- HK, England, 24/08/2010 13:02
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I know of a general builder who was asked to take on an apprentice by a college local to him. After two years of hands on instruction, it was plain to see that certain work was beyond the apprentice. This was discussed with the college, who asked the builder if he would pass him anyway. He declined as he didn't want any responsibility for below standard work being done in his name. The College gave the Apprentice the NVQ anyway. The builder suspects it was due to the fact of them obtaining additional funding. So, you have a substandard builder being given a qualification by a college. Will he be the subject of a 'Rogue Trader' investigation by Trading standards in the future?
- Paul Bradford, Monflanquin, France, 24/08/2010 12:06
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"The language that they should be learning, above french is of course SPANISH."
No, it's not, it's Chinese.
- Robert Zimmerman, London, 24/08/2010 11:39
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When will schools enter the 20th century and realize that German is the wrong language to learn. Only spoken in Germany, and the Germans in the main speak better English than we do.
The language that they should be learning,above french is of course SPANISH. Spoken throughout the whole of Central /south America, (ex Brail) Spain. and parts of North Africa. Canary Island and is the second lingua in USA. Its pathetic
- armstrong, london, 24/08/2010 10:39
The language to learn is.....ENGLISH
And maybe French for holidays but forget about the others as they all speak English.
- Stephen C, London, 24/08/2010 11:37
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Armstrong, your views are as you say 20th century. How can you say German is the 'wrong language to learn'. What nonsense, froma business perspective Germany is the powerhouse of Europe and a huge trading partner and not only that German and English are closely related languages so German is easier to learn than say Chinese.
- Matt, Ware, 24/08/2010 11:16
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".. pass rate up for 23rd year .."
And yet Universities are having to implement ever more courses to bring students up to basic levels of English and maths?
The two are incompatible and suggests exams are simply made easier. If income is based on results, then it is obvious what is happening.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 24/08/2010 10:53
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Instead of knocking them I will praise them - It’s not as easy as some may feel it is I certain don’t want to go back sit exams again…So well done!
- Jamie, London, 24/08/2010 10:52
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When will schools enter the 20th century and realize that German is the wrong language to learn. Only spoken in Germany, and the Germans in the main speak better English than we do.
The language that they should be learning,above french is of course SPANISH. Spoken throughout the whole of Central /south America, (ex Brail) Spain. and parts of North Africa. Canary Island and is the second lingua in USA. Its pathetic
- armstrong, london, 24/08/2010 10:39
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O level results are just a con as all pupils do not necessarily sit the same exam.
- Mark, Gerrymandered African Republic of Southwark, 24/08/2010 10:38
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