Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of pupil premium on ensuring children who are classed as behind reach their expected grades at Key Stages 1 to 4.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The Government is determined to deliver educational excellence everywhere so that every child, regardless of background, reaches their full potential.

Information on the proportion of low achieving disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard at key stage 4 is available from the KS2-4 transition matrices for disadvantaged pupils[1] on RAISEonline. These show progression from sub-levels at key stage 2 to grades at key stage 4 for a range of subjects, for both disadvantaged and other pupils. Similar information is not published regularly for progression between other key stages.

In 2015 the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee reviewed the pupil premium and concluded that while it is too early to assess the full impact of the funding, there is evidence that the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has started to narrow.

The Department for Education’s gap index provides a more accurate measure over time in light of changes to assessments. It shows that attainment has risen and the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has narrowed – by 7.1 per cent at key stage 2 and 6.6 per cent at key stage 4 since 2011, the year the pupil premium was introduced.

This means better prospects and a more prosperous life as an adult for this group of pupils. But we refuse to accept second best for any young person, which is why we are continuing the pupil premium at current rates for the duration of this parliament, providing funding to support schools to continue improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.

[1] https://www.raiseonline.org/OpenDocument.aspx?document=381%20

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