Results gap divides richer and poorer

Political Editor pfrancis@thekmgroup.co.uk Standards at Kent’s secondary schools have gone up yet again, according to official league tables.

The tables show that GCSE exam passes have improved across the county, with students posting another set of recordbreaking results.

But despite the improving performance, a gap remains between the achievements of disadvantaged pupils compared with others. Pupils on free school meals in Kent are half as likely to get five or more good GCSEs than those who that are not.

And the results show evidence of a gender gap in the county, mirroring the national picture, with boys performing less well than girls by a margin of 10%.

Department for Education data shows that 63% of students in Kent passed five or more GCSEs including maths and English at grades A to C - that’s an increase of 2% on the previous year and 4% higher than the national average of 59%. Only one in four pupils achieved the Baccalaureate, a new measure introduced by the government which shows the number of pupils achieving five or more GCSEs which include a science, language and a humanities subject.

The number of poorer students securing five or more GCSEs last year increased to 36% compared with 34% in 2012. At the same time, however, the performance of other students also increased to 70% from 67% – meaning a slight dip

For girls, 68% secured five or more good GCSEs compared to 58% of boys. The tables also show the progress made in the core subjects of maths and English by pupils between Key Stage 2 tests and GCSEs. In Kent, 73% made the expected progress in English and 72% did so in maths.

In Medway, results plateaued with 61% of students achieving five or more GCSEs at grades A to C including maths and English last year - the same as 2012.

As in Kent, there was a significant gap in the achievements of disadvantaged pupils and others.

Of pupils on free school meals, 39% achieved five or more good GCSEs compared with 67% of those that were not.