THE 1996 publication of School and College Performance Tables puts Carmel College into an exclusive list of the top colleges.

The Daily Telegraph Top 20 analysis of the tables has Carmel 11th out of around 120 colleges in the country. And it is not only the best of all the local Sixth Form Colleges, it is also the best Catholic Sixth Form College in England.

"We are obviously delighted at the public recognition of the achievements of our students, especially by the national recognition,"said college principal, Peter Rushton.

" However, we believe that league tables at best only give a limited snapshot of the quality of a college and at worst they are promoting a culture that is undesirable. For example, some colleges are developing highly elitist admission systems which exclude students who might struggle at A level and we regularly receive enquiries from students who have clearly been 'culled' prior to exams for fear they might harm a school's league table position."

At Carmel they say they believe that excellence can and is being achieved not by selection and rejection but by what the recent Inspection Report called outstanding support for individual students. And not only in A levels but also in vocational courses and the highly-regarded courses for students with learning difficulties.

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