Children in coastal schools falling behind in new divide, says Hinds

CHILDREN in coastal schools are falling behind their peers, the Education Secretary has warned, as he said the traditional concern that the north was more disadvantaged than the south was “too simplistic”.

Data published yesterday by the Department for Education (Dofe) show that pupils in coastal areas achieve two and a half grades lower at GCSE.

Appearing at an event in Broadway House, London, hosted by Reform, a public service think tank, Damian Hinds told the audience that “if we’re to understand the complex make-up of the UK today” the Dofe has to address educational disparity between coastal areas and cities.

He said: “The north-south divide is too simplistic a concept. Some of the very finest schools and some of the best education attainment is to be found in the north and of course there are parts of the south where things aren’t as good as they should be.”

In particular, he noted that children in coastal towns were falling behind their peers in cities. He said there had long been “suspicion that there is some sort of endemic where performance is lower on average” in coastal regions.

Children in London in particular do much better at school than elsewhere in the country, with Mr Hinds attributing the capital’s success to a comparatively high tutoring rate and a higher density of schools. However, this was not limited to London because there was a “cities” and “large conurbations” effect across the country. On average, disadvantaged pupils achieved around six grades higher and made more progress in schools in major conurbations than those in hamlets and isolated dwellings.

The data follows the announcement last October of six social mobility “coldspots” including Blackpool, Derby, Norwich, Oldham, Scarborough, and West Somerset.

Mr Hinds said: “It’s no coincidence that in our opportunity areas programme it includes areas which are coastal.”