Too many schools fail UK pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, says report

Richard Adams:

Tens of thousands of children from disadvantaged backgrounds could have their lives transformed if underperforming schools matched the results achieved by similar pupils in the most progressive schools in England, a report says today.

The report from the Social Mobility and Child Poverty (SMCP) commission, headed by former Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn, says that schools are letting down many children from the worst-off circumstances, while others from similar backgrounds are able to excel.

“If some schools can do it, there is no excuse for others not to,” said Milburn, who claimed the report “unearthed a new and shocking gap in performance between similar schools serving similar communities”.