But the programme of field trips to the city jail has now been suspended after reports that up to nine of the pupils from Evans Middle School were strip searched by prison staff.

BBC: Jail trip pupils 'strip searched'

At the Gottlieb Bienert middle school in Plauen, a suburb of Dresden, head teacher Gert Gorski explains that the higher up the school pupils proceed, the more they follow different paths, though they mingle for non-academic subjects.

ECONOMIST: Reforming education

Take Beechen Cliff grant maintained comprehensive school in Bath, for example - with pupils coming mainly from middle class, professional backgrounds and consistently above-average exam results.

BBC: Education: School League Tables

Results of all the pupils in a school are averaged and added to 100, which is the middle level nationally - so you end up with scores such as 95 (below average) or 105 (above).

BBC: NEWS | UK | Education | How 'value added' works