Poor primary school pupils increasingly left behind by peers

Bright primary school children receiving free school meals (FSM) are being left behind by their peers, with the gap in attainment in literacy, writing and maths widening between the two groups, according to official data.

The results of key stage 2 national tests in England – known as Sats – for 11-year-olds showed children not on FSM surging ahead of their disadvantaged peers, with more doing better than expected compared with previous years.

Meanwhile, new data on the national phonics check taken by five- and six-year-olds at the end of year 1 showed pupils on FSM had slipped back, with a lower proportion passing the check than in 2016.

The data came after figures from Ucas, the university admissions clearing house, showed students previously on FSM were only half as likely to attend university compared with those from better-off households.

The figures are an embarrassment for the government, coming on the day the Department for Education (DoE) published a widely praised social mobility strategy that offers education as a means of advancement.

However, analysis by the Guardian found that some primary schools managed outstanding results with high proportions of pupils receiving FSM.

Of schools with 20 or more pupils in year 6 – the end of key stage 2 – the entire cohort at Evelyn Street Community primary school in Warrington, Cheshire, met national standards and 55% were judged at a higher level in maths, writing and reading. Some 45% of pupils received FSM.

But national figures showed that while disadvantaged pupils made some progress in achieving high standards, they were outpaced by their better-off peers.

The proportion of pupils on FSM achieving the highest levels in maths rose from 9% last year to 13% this year – but the proportion of other pupils went up from 20% to 27%, widening the gap between the two groups to 14 percentage points.

Similarly, the gap in high achievement in reading stretched to 15 percentage points between the two groups this year, compared with 13 last year.

Among results by ethnic minority, children of Irish background made the most progress in reading, while children of Chinese and other Asian backgrounds made the fastest progress in maths.

There was some good news for the DoE, with just 511 primary schools falling below the government’s floor standard for progress, compared with 665 last year. But there was a rise in the number of schools rated as “coasting” over three years.

London primary schools again produced the best results, while those in the West Midlands, east Midlands and south-west England had the highest proportion failing to meet the floor standard.

Overall, 61% of year 6 pupils met or exceeded the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at key stage 2.

Nick Gibb, the school standards minister, said: “Teachers and pupils have responded well to the new more rigorous curriculum introduced by this government and these pupils were the first to benefit from the new approach to phonics.”

The breakdown of results from last year’s phonics check showed wide variation in results among FSM pupils. Last year, 69% of FSM pupils passed the check, designed to measure their grasp of the first stages of reading, but this year the rate fell to 68%. In both years, 83% of other pupils passed the check.

The details showed that 85% of FSM pupils passed the check in the London borough of Newham, a higher rate than most other regions and above the 83% of non-FSM pupils in Oxfordshire.