'Disadvantaged gap' most prominent in pupils in Ashton, Droylsden and Failsworth

Pupils in Ashton, Droylsden and Failsworth are almost 19 years behind their peers

Disadvantaged pupils in Ashton, Droylsden and Failsworth are almost 19 months behind their peers by the end of secondary school.

The Education Policy Institute (EPI) has today published its Flagship Annual Report on the state of education in England.

It examines the progress made in closing gap in educational attainment between disadvantaged pupils and their peers, known as the ‘disadvantage gap’. The measure is a leading indicator of social mobility.

The research, which is based on the latest department for education data, considers how the gap has changed since 2011 and how it varies across the country. It also looks how pupils from different backgrounds perform, as well as the routes taken by students after taking their GCSE’s.

Angela Rayner, MP for Ashton, Droylsden and Failsworth, said, “This is the latest evidence that inequality continues to rise under the Tories, with the most disadvantaged students losing out.

"Successive Tory governments have cut school budgets for the first time in a generation and slashed funding from Sure Start to further education, and now we are seeing the consequences.

"Sadly, there is no reason to expect that will change with the new Prime Minister and Education Secretary, who are intent on handing out yet more massive tax giveaways to the super-rich rather than investing in all our children.

"Labour will end Tory cuts to schools and give both early years and further education the investment they need to tackle inequality as part of a National Education Service.”

The report shows that disadvantaged children at the Early Years stage in Angela’s constituency are 6.2 learning months behind while primary school pupils are behind by 8.7 months.

The most persistently disadvantaged pupils are almost two years (22.6 months) behind at the end of GCSEs – and that gap has increased since 2011.

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