Citation, commencement and application

1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Education (School Performance Targets) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2006 and shall come into force on 28th December 2006.

(2) These Regulations apply only in relation to schools in England.

Amendment of Regulations

2.The Education (School Performance Targets) (England) Regulations 2004( 2 ) are amended as follows.

3. In regulation 2 (Interpretation)—

(a) after the definition of “GCE AS level” insert─

“ “ GCSE ” means General Certificate of Secondary Education; ” ;

(b) after the definition of “level 2” insert—

“ “level 2 threshold” means the achievement by a pupil of 5 GCSE qualifications at grades A* to C or the achievement by a pupil of a score of at least 100% when aggregating the contribution percentage assigned by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority to each approved qualification taken by the pupil at level 2; ” .

4. In regulation 5 (targets for pupils aged 15)—

(a) after paragraph (3)(a) insert—

“ (aa) the percentage of the relevant group of pupils aged 15 to achieve, by the end of the following school year, the level 2 threshold in approved qualifications including grades A* to C in English and Mathematics GCSE qualifications; ” ;

(b) after paragraph (6) insert—

“ (7) For the purposes of this Regulation─

(a) “English” means any GCSE qualification approved by the Secretary of State under section 98 of the 2000 Act for the purposes of section 96 of that Act with the subject title English, but does not include—

(i) a qualification only in English Literature;

(ii) a qualification resulting from any GCSE short course;

(iii) a qualification resulting from any combination of short courses, unless separately approved as a single or double GCSE in English.

(b) “Mathematics” means any GCSE qualification approved by the Secretary of State under section 98 of the 2002 Act for the purposes of section 96 of that Act with the subject title Mathematics, but does not include—

(i) a qualification only in Statistics;

(ii) a qualification resulting from any GCSE short course;

(iii) a qualification resulting from any combination of short courses, unless separately accredited as a single or double GCSE in Mathematics. ” .