Poorer pupils lag far behind in GCSE results

Poor teenagers are doing significantly worse at school than their better off peers, according to new figures from the department for education.

Three in 10 children eligible for free school meals passed five or more A*-C grade GCSEs including English and maths, compared with more than half of other pupils.

Schools minister Nick Gibb said the attainment gap between rich and poor pupils was still "stubbornly high".

Results published today show 31 per cent of poor pupils who took GCSEs last year scored top grades, compared with 58.5 per cent of other children.

The figures show girls who took GCSEs last summer outperformed boys by about seven percentage points.

Overall, 54.8 per cent of pupils got five or more A*-C GCSEs including English and maths this year, an increase of 4.1 percentage points on last year.

Chinese pupils were the highest attaining ethnic group, with 75.1 per cent achieving five or more good GCSEs. White pupils scored roughly the same as the national average, black pupils scored lower and Asian pupils performed above the average.

Mr Gibb said: "We're concerned that the achievement gap between those young people on free school meals and their peers remains stubbornly high, with around seven out of 10 of the poorest children leaving school without five or more good GCSEs including English and maths.

"To help raise academic standards for all young people, we are concentrating our efforts on improving reading ability in our primary schools by introducing a progress check at age six and focusing on phonics."

He added that the national curriculum was being reformed and heads were being given more powers to instil a "zero tolerance" approach to bad behaviour. He said: "The coalition Government's pupil premium, which equates to an additional £430 in 2011/12 for each of the poorest pupils in our schools, will allow teachers to provide extra support for the children who all too often fall behind in class."