Commenting on the DfE's statistics on the GCSE results in England, Nigel Fletcher, Head of Research at Bright Blue, said:

"It’s encouraging to see Academies and Free Schools again outperforming the national average, with Converter Academies in particular continuing to do well. The data also supports existing evidence that it is possible to achieve good overall educational results without reverting to selective education. For example, Inner London, which has high levels of deprivation and no grammar schools, is slightly higher in attainment than Kent and Lincolnshire, which retain them."