Craig Whittaker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2015-12-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase educational attainment among white boys from low-income socio-economic groups.
Nick Gibb
We are determined to deliver educational excellence everywhere so that every child, regardless of background, reaches their potential. The latest statistics show that more white boys eligible for FSM are achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of primary school, rising from 51 per cent in 2012 to 59 per cent in 2015.
It is unacceptable, however, that fewer than one in four white boys eligible for free school meals (FSM) achieves the expected standard at the end of secondary school.
Through the pupil premium, the government is providing additional targeted money, worth £2.5 billion in this year, to help schools support their disadvantaged pupils and improve their progress and attainment.
We are raising expectations further for all pupils. We are determined to ensure that every child masters the basics of literacy and numeracy at primary school, and that those who do not will re-sit the tests at secondary school. We are also committed to introducing an expectation that every child who is able studies the EBacc combination of subjects – maths, English, history or geography, a language and the sciences – up until the age of 16.
We are also introducing reforms that will further help ensure high standards throughout every child’s education and tackle entrenched underperformance, particularly amongst schools serving deprived communities.
The National Teaching Service (NTS) will deploy the country’s best teachers and leaders to underperforming schools that struggle to attract and retain the professionals they need. 1,500 outstanding teachers will be part of NTS by 2020.
The introduction of the national funding formula for schools will ensure that funding is transparently and fairly linked to children’s needs, ending the unfair system where children from identical disadvantaged circumstances attract significantly different levels of funding, simply because of where they live.
We have also made a commitment to double the percentage of disadvantaged pupils accessing higher education by 2020, and this will include a focus on children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
