{"id":220134,"date":"2024-11-28T11:54:05","date_gmt":"2024-11-28T11:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=220134"},"modified":"2024-11-28T14:32:42","modified_gmt":"2024-11-28T14:32:42","slug":"eyfs-results-disadvantage-gap-widens-among-reception-pupils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/eyfs-results-disadvantage-gap-widens-among-reception-pupils\/","title":{"rendered":"EYFS results: Disadvantage gap widens among reception pupils"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The disadvantage gap is now widening even at the very start of school, the latest early years foundation stage results<\/a> for reception pupils show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gap between the proportion of pupils eligible for means-tested free school meals achieving a “good level of development” and their better-off peers grew from 19.9 percentage points in 2022-23 to 20.5 last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This reversed the progress logged last year<\/a>, when the gap narrowed slightly from 20.4 percentage points, the Department for Education data published today shows. Current data only goes back to 2021-22, after changes were made to the EYFS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The persistence of disadvantage gaps later on in schools and their widening both before and after the pandemic has become a source of deep concern in the education sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, the GCSE disadvantage gap widened again, while the gap at the end of primary school narrowed slightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today’s data shows the gap is opening up even among the youngest school pupils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Kerris Cooper, senior researcher of early years and inequalities at the Education Policy Institute, said the data is “worrying yet, sadly, unsurprising”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is critical\u00a0that the new government addresses the root causes of poverty through an ambitious child poverty strateg<\/a>y which includes a focus on the youngest children, and by abolishing the \u2018two child limit\u2019 and benefits cap which directly place families in poverty,” she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A growing gap<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Last year, 72 per cent of pupils not eligible for free school meals had a “good level of development”, up from 71.5 per cent the year before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the proportion of free school meals eligible pupils meeting the benchmark fell slightly from 51.6 to 51.5 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, results from the early years foundation stage profile show 67.7 per cent of children had a good level of development last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s up slightly from 67.2 per cent 2022-2023 and 65.2 per cent the year before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proportion of children at the “expected level” across all early learning goals was 66.2 per cent, up from 65.6 per cent in 2022-2023 and 63.4 per cent the year before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These proportions are down on pre-pandemic 2019 results, but the assessment framework changed substantially in 2021<\/a>, so cannot be directly compared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DfE said the slight year-on-year overall increases might be attributable to “gradual recovery from disruption” caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It could also be down to schools having greater familiarisation with the new assessment framework rolled out in September 2021, the department noted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gap between girls and boys widens again<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Girls continue to outperform boys, and the gap has widened for the second year running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gulf widened from 13.6 percentage points to 14.3 year-on-year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The difference between autumn and summer-born children narrowed for the second consecutive year, however.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Just 3.8 per cent of children with an education, health and care plan were deemed to have a good level of development in 2023-2024, the same as the year before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the proportion with a good level of development improved slightly for those receiving SEN support, from 24.3 per cent to 24.9 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proportion of children with any SEN receiving a good level of development dropped from 19.8 percentage points to 19.7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the DfE said “this is due to a larger proportion of children with SEN having an EHC plan compared to a year earlier”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The difference between the 10 per cent of most deprived areas and the 10 per cent of least deprived areas in 2023-2024 was 18.6pp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s up from 18.5 percentage points the year before, but down from 20 percentage points in 2021-22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A-level attainment gap persists<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A stubborn disadvantage gap also persists at the end of school, data published today shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The average A-level points score for disadvantaged pupils was 4.9 points below that of their better off peers, the same as in 2022-23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the DfE said to get a \u201cfuller picture on the impact of disadvantaged status, this data should be looked at in conjunction with data on retention rates\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is because students are only included in the average points score measure if they enter exams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022-23, 93.7 per cent of non-disadvantaged A-level students were retained and assessed, compared to 86.8 per cent of disadvantaged students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, retention data for last year won\u2019t be published until the spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Proportion of free school meals-eligible pupils achieving a ‘good level of development’ falls slightly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":313939,"featured_media":140855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"post-theme":[],"class_list":["post-220134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t