Academy head to leave after inquiry

James Fox, the principal of Portslade Aldridge Community Academy, is leaving after an inquiry into exam statistics.

In a statement yesterday, the school said the inquiry concerned the accuracy of statistical returns provided by the school: "Specifically, the investigation looked into the registration of a small number of students as guests on the school's data systems."

Guest pupils are those who attend an establishment regularly for some lessons, or on a one-off or short-term basis, but who remain registered elsewhere.

The inquiry related to the alteration of records for 12 pupils so that they appeared as 'guests'. As a result, their attendance and GCSE grades were not counted towards performance results and tables for the school as a whole.The impact of this was that, in 2012-2013, the school's benchmark result for the proportion of students achieving five or more passes at A*-C at GCSE, including mathematics and English, was reported as 60% - when it should have been reported as 55.6%.

Peter Marchant, who has been acting as executive director since September, will continue until the school recruits a permanent head to start in September 2015.