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Participant at Poverty Hearing
Child Poverty and Education, End Child Poverty 2007
Campaign News
GCSE chances of poorest are a post code lottery - 20th of Aug, 2008
A new league table has revealed the best and worst places for the poorest students to go to school. The league, compiled for the campaign group End Child Poverty, shows huge differences in the GCSE attainment of the poorest students in different education authorities across England.
In the worst areas fewer than 1 in 4 of the poorest students achieve five good GCSEs. Areas where government has invested in the education of the poorest students show significantly better results, demonstrating that there is no excuse for failing students in poverty, the campaign said.
Top of the league table is Kensington and Chelsea with 59% of the poorest students, who receive free school meals, achieving five A* to C grades in their GCSEs. Bottom of the table is Nottinghamshire, where only 22% of children on free school meals achieved five good GCSEs compared with 59% of students not on free school meals.
Nine of the top ten authorities are in London and overall London is by far the best region for children in poverty to go to school, with an average of 45% gaining five A* to C grades. The average for East Midlands, the worst performing region, is just 29%.
The biggest success story of all is Tower Hamlets, second in the league with 55%. The London borough shows that success for the poorest students does not come at the cost of wealthier students – overall attainment for all students in Tower Hamlets has risen by 33% since 1997.
End Child Poverty attributed London’s success to injections of public money designed to improve standards in the poorest areas. These include initiatives such as the London Challenge, which has pumped £40 million a year into deprived areas of the capital.
“This shows that there is no excuse for failing the poorest students,” said Jason Strelitz, UK poverty spokesman for Save the Children and a member of End Child Poverty, who created the league table. “In areas like London, where national government has invested in improving education for the poorest, they have succeeded. In other areas the GCSE attainment of the poorest students remains alarmingly low.”
The league table was released as part of End Child Poverty’s Keep the Promise Campaign, aimed at holding the Government to its promise of halving child poverty by 2010 and ending it by 2020. The next focus of the campaign is a mass rally in Trafalgar Square on 4 October.
"This is further proof of the difference that investment makes to a disadvantaged child's education,” said Hilary Fisher, Director of the Campaign to End Child Poverty. “It is unacceptable that children have the odds stacked against them simply by default of having poorer parents. The Government must put its money where its mouth is and end child poverty so that all children, no matter their background, have equal chances to achieve a decent education."
% of Poorest Children gaining five good GCSEs – Top 10
Local Authority % on free school meals achieving 5 A* to C
Kensington and Chelsea 59.0 Tower Hamlets 54.5 Rutland 53.3 Kingston upon Thames 53.3 Redbridge 53.3 Hammersmith and Fulham 50.4 Brent 50.4 Bromley 49.5 Westminster 48.4 Newham 48.3
% of Poorest Children gaining five good GCSEs – Bottom 10
Local Authority % on free school meals achieving 5 A* to C
Warwickshire 24.8 Coventry 23.9 Oxfordshire 23.8 North East Lincolnshire 23.5 Northamptonshire 23.2 Reading 22.4 Bournemouth 22.3 Milton Keynes 22.0 South Gloucestershire 21.9 Nottinghamshire 21.7
Attainment of poorest by Region
Region % on free school meals achieving 5 A* to C London 44.6 West Midlands 38.2 North West 34.9 North East 33.4 East of England 32.6 South East 31.2 Yorkshire and the Humber 30.0 South West 29.2 East Midlands 28.7
ENDS NOTES TO EDITORS • For further information please contact either: - Benedict Dempsey in the Save the Children Press Office on 020 7012 6841, or out of hours contact the on-call press officer on 07831 650 409 - Sophie Davison or Rebecca Goding at End Child Poverty on 020 7278 3405 • The Campaign to End Child Poverty is a coalition of more than 130 organisations working to eradicate child poverty in the UK. It is formed from children's and other charities, social justice groups, faith-groups, trade unions and others concerned about the unacceptably high levels of child poverty in the UK. For more information, visit www.endchildpoverty.org.uk
• For more information about the Keep the Promise rally in Trafalgar Square on 4th October – the largest ever event to end child poverty – visit www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/promise • Save the Children is the world’s independent children’s charity. We’re outraged that millions of children are still denied proper healthcare, food, education and protection. We’re working flat out to get every child their rights and we’re determined to make further, faster changes. How many? How fast? It’s up to you. For further information about our work please visit www.savethechildren.org.uk • The comments in this release represent the views of End Child Poverty and do not necessarily reflect the views of member organisations Full League Table
Achievements at GCSE and Equivalents for pupils at the end of Key Stage 4, in maintained schools, by Local Authority and free school meal eligibility, 2007 (London authorities marked in bold) Source: Department for Children, Schools and Families
% on free school meals achieving 5 A* to C
England 35.5 1 London 44.6 2 West Midlands 38.2 3 North West 34.9 4 North East 33.4 5 East of England 32.6 6 South East 31.2 7 Yorkshire and the Humber 30.0 8 South West 29.2 9 East Midlands 28.7 1 Kensington and Chelsea 59.0 2 Tower Hamlets 54.5 3 Rutland 53.3 4 Kingston upon Thames 53.3 5 Redbridge 53.3 6 Hammersmith and Fulham 50.4 7 Brent 50.4 8 Bromley 49.5 9 Westminster 48.4 10 Newham 48.3 11 Trafford 48.0 12 Ealing 48.0 13 Hounslow 47.6 14 Harrow 47.3 15 Gateshead 46.6 16 Birmingham 46.5 17 Wandsworth 46.5 18 Barking and Dagenham 46.0 19 Wolverhampton 45.7 20 Islington 45.3 21 Southwark 45.3 22 Haringey 45.2 23 Barnet 44.2 24 Blackburn with Darwen 44.1 25 Lambeth 44.0 26 Camden 43.6 27 Croydon 43.4 28 Portsmouth 43.2 29 Luton 43.1 30 Salford 43.0 31 Hackney 42.8 32 Bury 41.9 33 Lewisham 41.4 34 Sandwell 41.0 35 Shropshire 40.9 36 Sutton 40.6 37 Solihull 40.3 38 Hartlepool 40.1 39 Halton 40.0 40 Waltham Forest 40.0 41 Windsor and Maidenhead 40.0 42 Newcastle upon Tyne 39.4 43 Hertfordshire 39.3 44 Sefton 38.8 45 Wakefield 38.4 46 West Berkshire 38.1 47 Liverpool 37.9 48 York 37.7 49 Oldham 37.1 50 Bexley 36.5 51 Manchester 36.3 52 South Tyneside 35.8 53 Suffolk 35.7 54 Slough 35.7 55 Middlesbrough 35.6 56 Buckinghamshire 35.6 57 St. Helens 35.4 58 Rochdale 35.4 59 Wokingham 35.4 60 Sunderland 35.2 61 North Tyneside 35.0 62 Medway 35.0 63 Cornwall 34.7 64 Leicester 34.6 65 Wigan 34.4 66 Telford and Wrekin 34.2 67 Southend-on-Sea 34.1 68 Hillingdon 33.9 69 Peterborough 33.8 70 Dorset 33.7 71 Wirral 33.6 72 Kent 33.6 73 Bradford 33.5 74 Surrey 33.4 75 Poole 33.3 76 Tameside 33.0 77 East Riding of Yorkshire 33.0 78 Greenwich 32.9 79 Enfield 32.9 80 Nottingham 32.8 81 Plymouth 32.8 82 North Yorkshire 32.7 83 Stoke-on-Trent 32.7 84 Warrington 32.4 85 Kingston Upon Hull,City of 32.4 86 Havering 32.3 87 Bath and North East Somerset 32.3 88 Knowsley 32.2 89 Lincolnshire 32.2 90 Staffordshire 32.2 91 Essex 31.8 92 Doncaster 31.7 93 Isle of Wight 31.6 94 East Sussex 31.5 95 Lancashire 31.4 96 Bolton 31.3 97 Torbay 31.2 98 Derby 31.1 99 Dudley 30.5 100 Barnsley 30.2 101 Kirklees 30.2 102 Brighton and Hove 30.1 103 Blackpool 30.0 104 Devon 30.0 105 Thurrock 29.9 106 Northumberland 29.4 107 Calderdale 29.4 108 Cheshire 29.0 109 Hampshire 29.0 110 Darlington 28.9 111 Derbyshire 28.7 112 Somerset 28.6 113 Merton 28.5 114 Rotherham 28.2 115 Worcestershire 28.0 116 Swindon 27.8 117 Durham 27.7 118 North Somerset 27.6 119 Redcar and Cleveland 27.5 120 Leicestershire 27.5 121 Gloucestershire 26.9 122 Cumbria 26.6 123 North Lincolnshire 26.6 124 Cambridgeshire 26.4 125 Herefordshire 26.1 126 Richmond upon Thames 26.1 127 Leeds 26.0 128 Southampton 26.0 129 Wiltshire 25.9 130 Stockport 25.8 131 Sheffield 25.8 132 West Sussex 25.7 133 Bedfordshire 25.6 134 Norfolk 25.6 135 Bristol,City of 25.6 136 Stockton-on-Tees 25.5 137 Bracknell Forest 25.0 138 Walsall 24.8 139 Warwickshire 24.8 140 Coventry 23.9 141 Oxfordshire 23.8 142 North East Lincolnshire 23.5 143 Northamptonshire 23.2 144 Reading 22.4 145 Bournemouth 22.3 146 Milton Keynes 22.0 147 South Gloucestershire 21.9 148 Nottinghamshire 21.7
% of students on free school meals achieving 5 A*-C at GCSE, by local authority, 2007
www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/aug/20/schools.socialmobility
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1047093/Two-million-pupils-fail-decent-GCSE-Labour.html
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