This week the Prime Minister reiterated the importance of children being in school and restated his commitment to ensuring learning continues in classrooms across the country.
Today, Wednesday 3 June, the Education Endowment Foundation has launched an online tuition pilot which aims to support disadvantaged children, following school closures as a result of a Covid-19.
Today our blog looks at the results of our annual Early Years Foundation Stage Profile results, and the Support for Disabled Students in Higher Education Report.
Whilst universities are independent and responsible for setting the pay of their staff, students and taxpayers all contribute to our higher education system - and rightly expect value for money.
The Secretary of State has urged universities to do more to help disadvantaged students to access and succeed in higher education.
Tackling disadvantage will always be a priority for this government. The gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has narrowed since 2011, and 85% of children are now in good or outstanding schools compared to just 68% in 2010.
Using the disadvantage gap index, the disadvantage attainment gap at key stage 2 has decreased in each of the last seven years, narrowing by 3% in the latest year and 13.2% since 2011. New guidance available through the Education Endowment Foundation will help schools make good choices to improve their disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes.
There is currently more money going into schools than ever before and the Government has acted to tackle disadvantage by providing schools with an extra £2.4 billion this year through the Pupil Premium.
The Education Secretary Damian Hinds has emphasised the importance of social mobility, and we have seen the gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers narrow, and the proportion of 16 and 17 year-olds in education or apprenticeships at its highest ever.
We have seen really strong progress in narrowing the attainment gap at each stage - from pre-school to primary to secondary. But we must go further to maximise all children’s chances of reaching their full potential.