The average teenager's university application forms will include a string of GCSE results and predicted or actual A-level or Higher grades.

Pupils at Acorn school have continuous teacher assessment.

But pupils at a small school in Gloucestershire do not take any of these exams and yet some still manage to get a place at university.

Applications from pupils at the fee-paying Acorn School, in Nailsworth, make it clear that their school does not recognise public examinations.

Instead of accruing the usual crop of qualifications as proof of academic ability, pupils at the school present admissions tutors with a bound book of samples of their work and a graded progress report from their teachers.

The applications also show pupils' punctuality and attendance record.

A total of 45 pupils from the school have gained a university place without formal qualifications and of the 12 who have already graduated, all but two got a 2:1.

Graeme Whiting

Graeme Whiting does not value GCSEs and A-levels.

For Graeme Whiting, founder and head teacher of the school, the public examination system does not ensure a balanced education for children and is not the best preparation for university.

"GCSEs and A-levels are corrupt, they're a way of monitoring six million children," says Mr Whiting. "I've never agreed with them – they're too shallow and narrow."

Mr Whiting has devised his own curriculum for pupils in the upper school (age 14 upwards), where regular teacher tests record how pupils are progressing.

Lure of GCSEs

For most parents though, it would be very daunting to put their children through the school system, only to come out with no formal qualifications.

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