Exclusive: GCSEs 'achievement gap' exposed in city schools

Disadvantaged students are falling behind at GCSE - even in high-performing secondary schools that are achieving otherwise impressive results.

An academic "achievement gap" between students from poorer backgrounds and better-off classmates is revealed in provisional data collated by Brighton and Hove City Council and published exclusively in today's Brighton and Hove Independent.

The data relates to more than a quarter of GCSE students (27.1%) who attract extra funding - a "pupil premium" that can be in excess of £900 per student - for the schools they attend.

The disclosure raises important questions about how some schools spend the extra funding and whether they provide value for money to achieve the intended goals. There were 587 "pupil premium" students taking GCSE this year, out of a total of 2,164 GCSE students at nine state secondaries; the funding is targeted at students who have qualified for free school meals at any time in the previous six years.

For each school, the new figures show the proportion of GCSE grades A*-C (including English and mathematics): for all students; for "pupil premium" students; and for students not attracting extra funding.

The figures not only show disparities and differences in academic outcomes, they also show differences in proportions of "pupil premium" learners - even in schools that share the same catchment area.

In a special article for Brighton and Hove Independent, Councillor Tom Bewick, the Labour chair of Brighton and Hove City Council's children, young people, and skills committee, highlights the performance of three schools: Blatchington Mill School and Sixth Form College, Cardinal Newman Catholic School, and Dorothy Stringer School.

He writes: "These schools achieved five good GCSEs for 69.3%, 65.3%, and 72.8% of their pupils, respectively - well above the national average.

"When, however, you look at the performance of students taught at these same schools in receipt of pupil-premium funding - additional resources earmarked by government for disadvantaged students - the corresponding figures for five good GCSEs declines dramatically to 50.7%, 34.6%, and 45.2%, respectively.

"Not only are these results well below the national benchmark for all pupils taking GCSEs, what should be of concern to the whole community is the wide variation between these schools.

"Why are examination outcomes achieved specifically for pupil-premium learners so low and so varied?"

Comparable data for last year suggests that the "achievement gap" has widened at six of the nine schools, most noticeably at Varndean School and at Cardinal Newman (which has the smallest proportion - 15% - of "pupil premium" students).

Cllr Bewick has instructed council officers to prepare a report for his committee as well as the council's new Fairness Commission, which is tasked to address inequality in the city.

In his article, he asks: "Is this the flip side of a state education system that appears to be doing increasingly well - able to stretch those achieving top academic grades - whereas, for disadvantaged pupils, it appears that they are falling still further behind?"

Tom Bewick: Let's make sure every young person achieves success