Results of standardized literacy and maths tests taken by Year 6 pupils this year showed a national drop, but detailed figures released by the Department for Education showed that disadvantaged children fell more than their better-off peers. The DfE said the attainment gap between the two groups was the largest since 2012, “suggesting that disruption to learning during the Covid-19 pandemic has had a greater impact on disadvantaged pupils”. Nationally, 59% of 10- and 11-year-olds achieved the expected standard in combined maths, reading and writing tests, up from 65% in 2019, the last time the tests – known as Sats – were held. Just 43% of disadvantaged children – those in free school meals or care – met the attainment target in all three subjects this year, compared to 65% of non-disadvantaged pupils. Disadvantaged students make up a third of those taking Sats. Natalie Perera, chief executive of the Education Policy Institute thinktank, said the results “paint a worrying picture of social mobility in England” and needed to be urgently addressed by the government. “This is not only a result of the pandemic. The gap of disadvantage for primary school pupils has already widened in 2019 and we can see that the pandemic has made it worse,” he said. “Tackling the growing inequality in our education system must be an urgent priority for the new Prime Minister. Given the challenges ahead, ministers must focus on providing adequate resources to schools and implementing a cross-government strategy on child poverty.” The DfE figures also showed sharp variations between regions. In four local authorities – Bedford, Norfolk, Isle of Wight and Portsmouth – less than half of Year 6 pupils achieved the expected standards in maths, reading and writing. Only one local authority, Hackney, bucked the national trend and showed improvement, with 68% of pupils passing each of the three tests, compared with 66% in 2019. But in neighboring Tower Hamlets, the combined pass rate decreased from 72% to 64%. Other areas recorded sharp declines, with Blackpool’s combined pass rate falling from 67% in 2019 to 51%. Schools in Oldham saw a drop of 13 percentage points. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Pupils whose first language is English suffered a disproportionate drop in results, according to DfE analysis, which showed 58% of these children met the expected standard in all three subjects, down from 65%. In contrast, 60% of students whose first language is not English met the expected standard, up from 64% in 2019. Some local authorities have been unable to publish their results after the DfE admitted more than 2,000 tests had been missed, affecting results for more than 500 schools. This year’s trials were the first to be carried out by outsourcing firm Capita, under contract to the DfE. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Union of Head Teachers, said there were “significant problems” with this year’s tests. “While this may be a small percentage of the number of papers overall, it still leaves hundreds of students without a score – students who are now entering secondary school without the end of primary results that the government considers so important,” he said. A Capita spokesperson told Schools Week: “We recognize that it is unacceptable for there to be delays in receiving a result or for any paper to be lost during the scanning and marking process. We have apologized directly to the affected schools and their students.”
