GCSE chances of poorest are a postcode lottery, new league table reveals

A new league table has revealed the best and worst places for the poorest students to go to school.

Tuesday 19 August 2008

The league, compiled for the campaign group End Child Poverty, shows huge differences in the GCSE attainment of the poorest students in different education authorities across England. 

In the worst areas fewer than one in four of the poorest students achieve five good GCSEs. Areas where government has invested in the education of the poorest students show significantly better results, demonstrating that there is no excuse for failing students in poverty, the campaign said. 

Top of the league table is Kensington and Chelsea with 59% of the poorest students, who receive free school meals, achieving five A* to C grades in their GCSEs.  Bottom of the table is Nottinghamshire, where only 22% of children on free school meals achieved five good GCSEs compared with 59% of students not on free school meals. 

Nine of the top ten authorities are in London and overall London is by far the best region for children in poverty to go to school, with an average of 45% gaining five A* to C grades. The average for East Midlands, the worst performing region, is just 29%. 

The biggest success story of all is Tower Hamlets, second in the league with 55%. The London borough shows that success for the poorest students does not come at the cost of wealthier students — overall attainment for all students in Tower Hamlets has risen by 33% since 1997. 

End Child Poverty attributed London’s success to injections of public money designed to improve standards in the poorest areas. These include initiatives such as the London Challenge, which has pumped £40 million a year into deprived areas of the capital. 

“This shows that there is no excuse for failing the poorest students,” said Jason Strelitz, UK poverty spokesman for Save the Children and a member of End Child Poverty, who created the league table. “In areas like London, where national government has invested in improving education for the poorest, they have succeeded. In other areas the GCSE attainment of the poorest students remains alarmingly low.” 

The league table was released as part of End Child Poverty’s Keep the Promise Campaign, aimed at holding the government to its promise of halving child poverty by 2010 and ending it by 2020. The next focus of the campaign is a mass rally in Trafalgar Square on 4 October. 

"This is further proof of the difference that investment makes to a disadvantaged child's education,” said Hilary Fisher, Director of the Campaign to End Child Poverty. “It is unacceptable that children have the odds stacked against them simply by default of having poorer parents. The government must put its money where its mouth is and end child poverty so that all children, no matter their background, have equal chances to achieve a decent education." 

Top 10 Local authorities with % of children on free school meals achieving 5 A* to C GCSEs

  1. Kensington and Chelsea
    59.0%
  2. Tower Hamlets
    54.5%
  3. Rutland
    53.3%
  4. Kingston upon Thames
    53.3%
  5. Redbridge
    53.3%
  6. Hammersmith and Fulham
    50.4%
  7. Brent
    50.4%
  8. Bromley
    49.5%
  9. Westminster
    48.4%
  10. Newham
    48.3%

Bottom 10 Local authorities with % of children on free school meals achieving 5 A* to C GCSEs

  1. Warwickshire
    24.8%
  2. Coventry
    23.9%
  3. Oxfordshire
    23.8%
  4. North East Lincolnshire
    23.5%
  5. Northamptonshire
    23.2%
  6. Reading
    22.4%
  7. Bournemouth
    22.3%
  8. Milton Keynes
    22.0%
  9. South Gloucestershire
    21.9%
  10. Nottinghamshire
    21.7%

Attainment of children on free school meals achieving 5 A* to C by region

  1. London
    44.6%
  2. West Midlands
    38.2%
  3. North West
    34.9%
  4. North East
    33.4%
  5. East of England
    32.6%
  6. South East
    31.2%
  7. Yorkshire and the Humber
    30.0%
  8. South West
    29.2%
  9. East Midlands
    28.7%

Find out more

The Campaign to End Child Poverty is a coalition of more than 130 organisations working to eradicate child poverty in the UK. It is formed from children's and other charities, social justice groups, faith-groups, trade unions and others concerned about the unacceptably high levels of child poverty in the UK. For more information, visit http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/
 

For more information about the Keep the Promise rally in Trafalgar Square on 4 October — the largest ever event to end child poverty — visit www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/promise

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