without required levels of achievement 45 per cent of pupils leave school

educational correspondent(wp/es):

Almost 45 per cent of children are not meeting the required standards of success, a new report has found.
Up to 43 per cent of children leaving primary school have not met the expected levels of achievement in reading, writing and maths - a grade 4b or higher – at the end of Key Stage 2.
The analysis from CentreForum and Education DataLab also found 44 per cent of secondary school students are not obtaining five A* to C grade GCSEs.
The level of attainment has risen over the last decade, the report said, and recommends a new benchmark standard to which pupils can be held.
Changes to the GCSE grading system from 2017 will assess children on a scale ranging from a high of 1 to a low of 9, with a good pass to be considered a grade 5.
A grade 5 is said to be the equivalent of between a current B and C grade.

Within the new system, researchers estimate the percentage of children achieving a good pass will fall to 35 per cent in English and maths -a drop of 23 per cent.
Disadvantaged children are also closing the gap on other pupils in the classroom, the study found, shrinking as much as 30 per cent in Key Stage 2 since 2006.
But at secondary school, the achievement gap is equivalent to an average of one GCSE grade in each subject.
David Laws, executive chairman of CentreForum said: "Our analysis shows that attainment has risen and the disadvantaged gap - notably at the end of primary education - has fallen over the last decade. This is good news, but the report shows that there is no cause for complacency.

"Almost 45 per cent of children continue to fail to reach national benchmark standards, which are already lower than the standards reached in the best performing countries.
"We can also see from this report that while the disadvantaged gap has declined at each Key Stage, the gap still increases during a child's time in education.
"England needs to do much better if it is to become a world leader in giving real opportunity to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds."
A Department for Education spokeswoman said: "We welcome this report, which shows the stark choice we face in education today - either we prepare today's young people to compete with the best in the world or we don't.
"That's why we've taken the decision to set the new GCSE 'good pass' at the same level as other high-performing countries set their passmark.
"Every time we have raised the bar for schools and colleges they have risen to meet the challenge and we are confident that this is no exception." The spokeswoman added over time, more pupils are expected to reach the new higher standard and the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers will continue to narrow.

The most crime-ridden stations on the London Underground network is kings cross

staff reporter,London(wp/es):
King's Cross was today revealed as London's most crime-ridden station.
Figures from the British Transport Police showed 457 crimes were recorded at the station 12 months to December 1 last year -  a far higher figure than any of London's other rail hubs. 
Among those were 87 violent incidents, 65 public order offences and a further 25 sex crimes over the course of the year.
There were also more than 200 thefts of passenger property while other incidents at the station included fraud, drugs offences and criminal damage.
Elsewhere on the Tube network, Oxford Circus and Stratford stations recorded 344 crimes each in the same period, with Victoria close behind on 308.

Liverpool Street is fifth on the tube’s crime hotspot list with 235 incidents, followed by the huge Bank and Monument complex on 228.
Central London stations Green Park and Holborn recorded 193 crimes each, with Leicester Square seeing 190 and a further 184 at London Bridge.

But it is better news for people who use the Bakerloo line’s North Wembley station, which saw just two crimes over the 12 months – graffiti vandalism and a solitary theft.
Police stress the stats need to be viewed in context, with the worst stops on the list being major stations which see thousands of people passing through their ticket barriers every day.
And a BTP spokesman said crime across the network in 2014/15 was actually at its lowest level for over a decade, despite a rise in the number of passenger journeys.
They said: “Many of these stations are very busy hubs with huge numbers of people passing through, so numbers of offences are always likely to be higher than at smaller stations. Larger, busier
 stations also have a higher police presence, so more offences are likely to be recorded as a result of police-generated activity.
“Some locations will have specific reasons for the apparent high numbers, and some serve as the ‘end of line’ reporting location for offences which take place on board trains, or on neighbouring services, which contributes to the figures.”
They added: “Everyone has the right to travel on the railway without fear of being a victim of crime, and BTP is completely committed to reducing crime on the railway even further.”