Poorer students more likely to be in failing schools - study

Poorer students more likely to be in failing schools - study

New research has found that 9% of poor English children go to an inadequate school against 1% of wealthiest.

The findings, compiled by the UK Labour Party and reported in The Guardian, are based on Ofsted data for secondary schools covering performance and schools’ rating on a deprivation index.

According to Ofsted figures for the end of March this year, 28% of secondary school students in England were in schools rated outstanding. Another 54% were in schools rated good, 14% were schools deemed to require improvement, and 4% were in schools rated inadequate.

Among the wealthiest fifth of English students, just 1% attended an inadequate school, but among the poorest fifth, 9% were attending one of the worst-performing schools.

At the other end of the scale, the picture is reversed.

Some 44% of students in the most privileged 20% were attending an outstanding school, but only 19% of those at the bottom of the scale.

Within some English regions the correlation between wealth and the chances of attending a top secondary school seem even higher.

In the east of England just 3% of the poorest students were attending one of the best-performing schools, but 42% of the wealthiest students were in a school rated outstanding.

Angela Rayner, the UK Shadow Education Secretary, said: “No child should be held back from reaching their potential because of their background.”

The UK Department for Education said that since 2010 the number of students in good or outstanding schools had risen from 66% to 86% and that £2.4bn a year was being spent specifically helping disadvantaged pupils through the student premium.