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School offers pupils £200 bribe just to get a C at GCSE but high-fliers will get nothing

A school is offering some pupils a £200 bribe to pass English and maths exams.

But the bonus will be paid only to children predicted to get a D grade at GCSE who achieve at least a C in both subjects.

The scheme, at Oldbury Academy in the West Midlands, was criticised last night for promoting mediocrity by focusing on C grades – the standard by which a school’s performance in league tables is measured.

Pupils at Oldbury Academy in the West Midlands are being offered cash bribes to do better in their GCSEs

It has also been attacked as divisive because it excludes high-achieving pupils as well as those who are expected to fail but who instead end up with a good pass.

The controversial policy is understood to apply to 49 Year 11 pupils sitting GCSEs this summer – at a potential cost of £9,800.

Last year 60 per cent of pupils there who sat the exams achieved a C grade or higher, compared with a national average for state-funded schools of 56.1 per cent.

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Christopher Hill, 29, a University of Birmingham teaching fellow whose father used to work at the specialist sports academy, wrote to Education Secretary Michael Gove and schools regulator Ofsted to complain about the policy.

He said yesterday: ‘Times are hard and many services are being cut. Is it therefore justifiable to spend money in this way when the same funding could be used to provide important and educationally valuable experiences for many more of its pupils?’

The controversial scheme is believed to apply to Year 11 children sitting their GCSEs this summer (file photo)

Parents were also furious. A mother of a Year 11 pupil, who asked not to be named, said: ‘My daughter has been predicted A and B grades and I’ve heard nothing about any rewards. It’s a bit of a kick in the teeth for kids who just get their head down and get on with it.’

Another mother said: ‘It just promotes mediocrity. I believe it will only segregate pupils.’

Oldbury Academy headteacher John Martin defended the initiative, claiming it prepared children for real-life situations where hard work is rewarded.

‘Students need to demonstrate significant progress before being considered for recognition through our rewards scheme,’ he said.

But Tory MP Graham Stuart, chairman of the Commons Education Select Committee, said: ‘This is a distortion based on the importance of a C grade to the school, instead of its importance to the child. It’s the wrong way round.

Pupils will be given £200 if they achieve GCSE grades that are much better than those predicted

‘Children who have worked very hard to get themselves to the level where they are predicted to get a C will feel that those who haven’t put in as much application are being rewarded.’

Fellow Tory Chris Skidmore added: ‘They are trying to play the system. It should be teachers who are paid by results and penalised if they don’t do well enough.’

The Department for Education confirmed schools can offer incentives. It said: ‘They are free to do with their money whatever they think is best.’

But Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University, warned that bribes often backfire because of the resentment they cause among children who miss out.

Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw has this week criticised schools for pitching mixed ability classes at average pupils.

This helps more children achieve the all-important C grade each year but means tens of thousands of the most able are failing to reach their potential and gain top grades.

Students who thought they were sitting the same maths paper as their classmates were distressed to hear that different papers had been handed out




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