Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner

Nearly 100,000 teenagers are leaving school without five good GCSE grades.

One in five are failing to hit A* to C marks, warns Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner.

That’s an increase of 24 per cent over the past three years despite the school leaving age moving to 18.

The Commissioner’s report said:

“This means that children spent more time in education yet were still more likely to leave without basic qualifications.

“These are children who will have spent 15 years in compulsory education, often having more than £100,000 of public money spent on their education and yet leave the education system without basic benchmark qualifications

“It is shameful that last year almost 100,000 children in England left education at 18 without proper qualifications.

“While we should celebrate the progress that is being made in raising standards for millions of children, it should never be an acceptable part of the education system for thousands of children to leave with next to nothing.”

Ms Longfield urged ministers to launch a review into why more youngsters are leaving school without basic qualifications.