Bolton's vulnerable school children fail to meet the standard

Across England, looked-after children, pupils in care, and those with a child protection order performed worse compared to all pupils in the 2022-23 academic year.

The Department for Education figures show 39 of 101 children in need in key stage two in Bolton met the required standard for reading, writing and maths in 2022-23 – the equivalent of 39 per cent.

Meanwhile, 64 per cent of all pupils in Bolton met the standard.

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Across England, 30 per cent of vulnerable children were up to the requirements for reading, writing and maths compared to an average of 60 per cent of all children.

The figures for all pupils include the number of children considered in need as well.

Assistant District Secretary for Bolton’s National Education Union, Robert Poole, says that he is “deeply troubled” by the findings.

He believes that the root cause is the “lack of access to resources” for disadvantaged children.

But he did say that many schools were working hard to provide support to vulnerable pupils, but they are grappling against an “increasingly squeezed budget”.

He said: “I am deeply troubled by the significant educational achievement gap between vulnerable children and their peers.

“The root cause of this is our unequal society and the lack of access to resources for these pupils which perpetuates cycles of disadvantage. 

“Many schools are working hard to provide pastoral support to vulnerable pupils be this social, emotional, or academic, and they are doing this in a time of increasingly squeezed budgets. “Although we would welcome greater funding merely increasing funding is insufficient; we need transformative policies tackling root causes like poverty and lack of opportunity. 

“We must address these inequalities first and foremost to ensure all children, regardless of circumstances, have a fair chance at academic success.”

While the gap remained the same since 2018-19, both groups across the country had a worse performance.

Before the pandemic, 35 per cent of children in need made the grade, while 65 per cent of all pupils did.

The figures also show when broken down individually, 61 per cent of key stage two children in need in Bolton reached the expected standard for reading, 53 per cent for writing and 50 per cent for maths.

For all pupils, 74 per cent met the reading standard, with 75 per cent in writing and 78 per cent in maths.