Poverty gap ‘must be closed’

Education chiefs have acknowledged that more needs to be done to close the achievement gap between poorer children and their peers after a report from Ofsted said it was too wide.

The number of pupils attending good or outstanding schools in Kent has increased this year, according to the schools watchdog.

But while Ofsted says in its annual report there have been significant improvements in the county, it highlighted concerns about standards in coastal areas.

And it said there was a continuing issue over the gap between the achievements of pupils from poorer backgrounds and others and there was “too little sign of it of closing.”

In a statement, Kent County Council said: “We are very aware that the number of children who claim free school meals reaching the required standards in education is not high enough and is our main concern in terms of raising standards in schools, sadly this has been the national picture in the UK too. We are working hard to address this balance and have various programmes underway to do this.“

The report revealed that in the county’s primary schools, 88% of children were at good or outstanding schools -– up 7 per cent on last year. That placed it 8th out of the 19 areas in the region.

In Medway, 84% of primary children were at good or outstanding schools – placing it 14th of 19 areas in the south east. When it came to secondary schools, 90% of children in Medway were at good or outstanding schools – up 1% on last year. That placed it fourth of the region’s 19 areas. In Kent, the figure was 86%, placing it 7th in the region and up 2% on 2015. The national average was 81%.

Chris Russell, regional director for the South East, said: “I am concerned about the poor outcomes for those from deprived backgrounds; something that has dogged us for too long.”

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