Skip to main content
The Morning Star Shop
The ‘Pre-U’ scandal
BERNIE EVANS reveals the scam of top-flight private schools running their own exclusive exam system instead of A-Levels

WITH the abolition of private schools now gaining increased support, there is yet another aspect of their provision which needs closer examination.

Some of the press have taken notice of the fact that most schools in the independent sector have chosen to ignore the newly reformed GCSE examinations, preferring, for obvious reasons, IGCSE examinations, for their already highly privileged pupils. What is being ignored, however, is that A-Level examinations, the accepted route into higher education for nearly all state school students, are also being avoided.

Three Freedom of Information (FoI) requests have revealed that, whilst there is much less regulation involved, pupils entering the examinations preferred by private schools have almost three times as much chance of getting A*/A grades than from A-Level entry.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Activists from Fossil Free London and Green New Deal Rising
Features / 31 January 2025
31 January 2025
BERNIE EVANS despairs of a government that is asking the crooks sucking Britain dry how to get the economy back on track
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves at the Confederati
Features / 9 January 2025
9 January 2025
Labour’s ex-banker Chancellor plans deregulation while City profits soar and customers suffer — between money laundering scandals and the exploitation of Covid loans, it’s clearly time to end this madness, says BERNIE EVANS
NICE LITTLE EARNER: The Cornwall duchy and the Ministry of J
Features / 20 December 2024
20 December 2024
Everyone knows the royals cost us all a fortune, but recent revelations have shown mind-boggling greedy behaviour, like charging hospitals and cancer charities rent — it’s time for action, writes BERNIE EVANS
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves makes her keynote
Features / 22 October 2024
22 October 2024
Raising capital gains tax to match income tax is not only economically sound but morally just, potentially raising billions for public services — it’s an absolute no-brainer for any Labour government, argues BERNIE EVANS
Similar stories
A general view of pupils sitting an exam at Lawrence Sheriff school Rugby, Warwickshire
Education / 5 August 2025
5 August 2025
BRAVE NEW WORLD? Annual British Educational Training and Technology conference in London, January 2025, where Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson set out plans to use technology to ‘modernise’ the education system, support teachers and ‘deliver’ for pupils
Technology / 27 June 2025
27 June 2025

NICOLA SARAH HAWKINS explains how an under-regulated introduction of AI into education is already exacerbating inequalities

CONSERVATIVE POSTER CHILD: School head Katharine Birbalsingh
Features / 10 March 2025
10 March 2025
As the government moves to rein in academy freedoms, former darling of conservative education reform Katharine Birbalsingh cries ‘Marxism.’ Education columnist ROBERT POOLE examines how academisation has failed our children while enriching executives and empowering ideologues at the expense of democratic accountability