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THE poorest children in England are nine times more likely to be studying in “inadequate” schools than their wealthiest peers, new research by the Labour Party has found.
Published ahead of the release of GCSE results on Thursday, the study reveals alarming levels of educational inequality.
Nationally, the richest students in Britain consistently attend schools graded “outstanding” or “good” by educational inspectorate Ofsted, with only 2 per cent in schools that are considered “inadequate.”
The national average for deprived children attending an “outstanding school” is a mere 19 per cent – less than one in five.
However, in seven regions of the country, the proportion is even lower.
In the south-west of England, not a single deprived child attends an “outstanding” school, while in the south-east, wealthier children are 37 times more likely to go to an “outstanding” school than their poorer peers.
Not a single wealthy student in London can be found among the 7,893 children who go to schools deemed “inadequate” in the city.
In the north-west, just 8 per cent of the least deprived attend an “inadequate” school, compared with 54 per cent of the most deprived.
Last year, a report from the Fair Education Alliance found that Britain’s poorest children face serious inequality in the education system.
The report said that Britain’s poorest children fall behind their better-off peers by roughly a whole school year in knowledge attainment by the time they sit their GCSEs.
Labour’s shadow education secretary Angela Rayner blamed the Tories for having “gifted tax cuts to big businesses” while cutting pupil funding in real terms.
“No child should be held back from reaching their potential because of their background," she said.
“It is the most vulnerable children paying the price for the resulting crisis in our education system.
“The next Labour government will invest in a national education service, giving our schools the funding they need to raise standards and improve outcomes, so every child gets the education they deserve, regardless of their background.”
