As part of a wider programme, aimed at improving the educational performance of children from financially disadvantaged households, the government announced earlier this year changes in the way Ofsted will assess the standards of schools in England and Wales. As of September 2013, there has been a greater emphasis on the achievements and progress of poorer children. To allow adequate monitoring of this measure, the test results of children in receipt of the pupil premium are to be included discretely, as part of the schools performance tables.

The pupil premium is a payment made to schools in respect of any child who has qualified for free school meals within the previous six years, and is therefore considered to be a good indicator of financial disadvantage. The detrimental effect of being from a low-income household has been found to be quite substantial.  For example, in 2012, the results of the national tests carried out at the end of the primary phase showed that 68 per cent of disadvantaged children achieved the level required by the government, compared to 84 per cent of other children. When the results of the GCSE examinations, in the same year, were analysed, it was apparent that the gap was even wider, with a 38.5 per cent success rate for disadvantaged children, compared to 65.7 per cent for those not in receipt of the pupil premium. Schools Minister, David Laws, has insisted that this disparity of achievement is too great and he is determined that disadvantaged children should be given the support required to enable them to achieve their potential.

The announcement coincided with the publication of a government report into the success of the pupil premium, which was introduced by the coalition in 2011. The results of the research suggested that 80 per cent of secondary schools and more than 65 per cent of primary schools have used the pupil premium to introduce or increase targeted support, such as extra teaching assistants. Whilst more than 90 per cent of the schools taking part in the survey said that they had already been addressing the issues surrounding the performance of poorer children, over 80 per cent of them insisted that the payments are simply inadequate for the extra provision that is needed.

Under the new regulations, no school has been able to achieve the status of ‘outstanding’ unless they can demonstrate an adequate commitment to raising the attainment of poorer children. Mr Laws is happy that the new measures, by holding schools to account for the progress of this specific section of the pupil population, will result in an improvement of standards for those in that demographic.  In spite of his tentative optimism, he added “There is much more to be done.”