Ministers to set out plans to halve attainment gap in England’s schools
#attainment gap #schools white paper #disadvantage funding #free school meals #pupil premium #educational inequality #GCSE results #special educational needs
📌 Key Takeaways
- Government plans to halve attainment gap between disadvantaged and affluent students
- Funding criteria changes to focus more on family income rather than just free school meals
- Introduction of new regional programs and special educational needs overhaul
- Controversial aspects including potential funding redistribution and parent appeal rights
📖 Full Retelling
UK Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and government ministers will unveil plans on Monday to halve the attainment gap between England's poorest pupils and their more affluent peers through a new schools white paper that proposes changing funding criteria for disadvantaged students. The white paper will detail significant reforms to how schools receive funding to support students from low-income backgrounds, with Labour proposing to broaden the current system which allocates money based on free school meal eligibility. Currently, disadvantage funding costing approximately £8 billion annually is distributed through the pupil premium payments given to schools for each child eligible for free school meals, generally available to children from families with an annual income of less than £7,400. The government's approach comes as stark statistics reveal the persistent educational divide in England, with only 44% of children receiving free school meals achieving a pass of grade 4 or above in GCSE maths and English compared with 70% of children from more affluent backgrounds, a gap that has remained unchanged for over a decade. The white paper will also include controversial proposals for local authorities to administer groups of schools through multiacademy trusts, set new minimum expectations for school-parent engagement, and introduce two new regional programs—Mission North East and Mission Coastal—modeled after the successful London Challenge initiative. Additionally, the government plans an overhaul of the special educational needs system to provide individual support plans for every child with Send, though concerns remain about parents' appeal rights, and will announce new attendance targets to recover 20 million lost school days annually.
🏷️ Themes
Education policy, Social inequality, School funding
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Ministers to set out plans to halve attainment gap in England’s schools White paper proposes changing criteria under which schools get funding to support the most disadvantaged students Plans to halve the attainment gap between the poorest pupils in England and their more affluent peers will be set out by the government on Monday. The schools white paper will detail proposals to change the criteria under which schools receive funding to support the most disadvantaged students. Disadvantage funding is now allocated based on how many pupils at a school receive free school meals – generally available to children from families with an annual income of less than £7,400. Labour wants to broaden this criteria, overhauling the funding formula to give greater weight to funding pupils based on family income. The policy is likely to shift funding for disadvantage payments away from the annual pupil premium payments given to schools for each child eligible for free school meals. The white paper will also include controversial proposals for local authorities to be able to administer groups of schools through their own multiacademy trusts, and set new minimum expectations for schools to engage with parents. The “disadvantage gap is as stark today as it was over a decade ago”, Labour said, with only 44% of children in receipt of free school meals achieving a pass of grade 4 or above in GCSE maths and English. This compares with 70% of children who do not qualify for free school meals, the party added. Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, said: “These reforms are a golden opportunity to cut the link between background and success – one that we must seize. “Our schools have made great strides in recent decades. Yet for too long, many children in our country have been let down by a one-size-fits-all system, denied opportunity because they’re poor or because they have additional needs. “Our schools white paper presents the blueprint for opportunity for the next generation, wit...
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