More than 30,000 16-year-olds left school this year with no qualifications, an alarming statistic that will be ignored in this week's tales of A* GCSE exam successes, the Prince's Trust charity warns today.
With hundreds of thousands of youngsters due to collect their results on Thursday, the trust, which is backed by the Prince of Wales, launches a new qualification today aimed at the one in 20 school leavers who end up with no GCSEs at all.
Accredited by the City and Guilds awarding body, the vocational certificate will be awarded to 16-25-year-olds who complete the charity's intensive 12-week "personal development" course, after acquiring skills relevant for employment or for taking up further education and training. Candidates will work for a certificate in personal teamwork and community skills, which asks them to demonstrate skills including the ability to write a CV. The qualification is the equivalent of Level 1 - Grade C or below at GCSE.
Taken from the Guardian August 22nd 2006. For full story go to http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,1855499,00.html | 
