Top London grammar school ‘unlawfully’ forcing students to re-sit Year 12 Exclusive: One lawyer told i that forcing students to re-sit a year is sometimes used to push students out of a school

One of the top grammar schools in the country has been accused of unlawfully holding sixth-form students back a year if they fail to get good enough grades, i can reveal.

Wilson’s School in Sutton, London, requires students to get a minimum of three Cs in their AS levels to “matriculate” into Year 13, or else forces them to re-sit Year 12.

But a lawyer has told i he thinks this is “not lawful”, and could be used as a way of pushing out students who might drag down schools’ league table position. i has been told that the policy has resulted in students opting to leave after Year 12.

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‘Matriculation’

Wilson’s is a boy’s grammar which was last year named as The Sunday Times ‘State Secondary School of the Year’. In the Government’s league tables it is the thirteenth best school in England when ranked on the grades of students’ strongest three A-levels.

The school’s 2019 sixth-form prospectus states that it has “certain conditions for matriculation into upper sixth”, with students required to obtain at least three Cs in their AS levels. “If a student’s AS results are below this level, they will be required to re-sit Year 12,” it adds.

‘Not lawful’

Dan Rosenberg, a partner specialising in education law at the solicitors Simpson Millar, said: “Schools are entitled to have entry criteria for entry into year 12. That is lawful.

“What is not lawful is to set academic requirements for A-level students for progression from Year 12 to Year 13.”

Mr Rosenberg said that in his view, schools are aware that “seeking to force students to resit Year 12 and stopping them continuing into Year 13 is in effect a mechanism that is used to push them out of the school.”

A student currently at Wilson’s said that teenagers not getting three Cs are given an “ultimatum” of “re-sit or leave”, which he claimed had resulted in more than one student leaving.

He said it was “tough” for students who were asked to re-sit because they would not be able to stay with their friends. “You’re being looked at as a number in a spreadsheet, and it’s just really impersonal,” he added.

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Mr Rosenberg told i: “Ofsted’s new inspection framework makes clear that ‘gaming’ by schools is not acceptable.

“It is likely to be only a matter of time before Ofsted becomes involved with one of the schools that persists with practices of this nature,” he added.

An Ofsted spokesman told i: “When Ofsted goes into schools inspectors check that school leaders are taking decisions in the interests of all of the children.

“We will call out gaming when it occurs.”

He added: “Naturally it would not be appropriate to talk about any potential inspection activity.”

‘Harmful to academic success’

Last year another London grammar, St Olave’s, was found by an official inquiry to have illegally booted out students for not getting good enough results at the end of Year 12.

And earlier this month Queens Park Community School – a state school in Brent, London – was accused of unlawfully kicking out sixth formers half-way through their A-levels because they were not getting good enough grades.

According to the Education Endowment Foundation – which was set up by the Government to evaluate the effectiveness of education interventions – forcing students to repeat a year in most cases is “harmful to a student’s chances of academic success”.

“Studies also suggest that students who repeat a year are more likely to drop out of school prior to completion,” the EEF said.

Wilson’s was contacted for comment.