When will parents be be told?

The inclusion this year of mathematics and English as a criterion in the proportion of candidates achieving five A*- C grades at GCSE provides parents with more accurate information on the academic standards in our schools.

However, significant anomalies in the accuracy of the true picture in our schools remain. Your key to tables published recently indicated that the pupils included in the tables are usually from Year 11 at the end of Key Stage 4. The pupils included are in fact only those who fall into the right age cohort, pupils who were aged 15 on September 1, 2005.

In the independent sector, able pupils may be accelerated out of their year group and others, usually those who join us from overseas, may be older than their peer group.

Currently, the often excellent results of these younger or older pupils are not recognised in the GCSE performance tables. At a time when the Secretary of State is announcing that SATs should in future be taken when pupils are ready and not at the end of a key stage, it makes no sense not to include all Year 11 pupils in the GCSE performance tables, irrespective of their age.

Similarly, independent schools enjoy the freedom to choose rigorous academic alternatives to GCSE. The international GCSE, or IGCSEs as they are known, are recognised as one such alternative, particularly since there is no coursework.

However, again parents are denied further information about a school's performance because the DfES does not include these qualifications in the proportion of candidates obtaining A*- C grades in English and Mathematics.

When will parents finally be provided with the truth about the performance in our schools rather than with a collection of meaningless statistics?

P C Bodkin, Chairman of the Society of Heads of Independent Schools; Headmaster, Tettenhall College, Wolverhampton.