The table illustrates the percentage of school children attending four different types of secondary school from 2000 to 2009. It is evident that whereas the community schools experienced a marked increase in the proportion of those attending their institutions over the period, the others saw a corresponding decline.
To begin, the percentage of pupils in voluntary-controlled schools fell from just over half to only 20% or one fifth from 2000 to 2009. Similarly, the relative number of children in grammar schools – just under one quarter – dropped by half in the same period. As for the specialist schools, the relatively small percentage of pupils attending this type of school (12%) also fell, although not significantly.
However, while the other three types of school declined in importance, the opposite was true in the case of community schools. In fact, whereas only a small minority of 12% were educated in these schools in 2000, this figure increased to well over half of all pupils during the following nine years.