Why where you live can affect your school grades – and the gap between areas is only widening

A leading thinking tank warned, students in London perform better than the rest of the country, but Labour has no reliable plan to solve the problem.

A report by the Government Institute (IFG) has warned that the educational inequalities in the UK have grown “wider and more pronounced” since Covid Pandemia and among various demographic groups.

Despite the government’s commitment to closing the disadvantage, the think -tank ministers warned that ği not yet expressed a clear vision or plan for presenting this goal ”.

The announcement is expected to get GCSe results on Thursday, tens of thousands of students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The average key stage 4 achievement rate, which means students who pass English and mathematics GCSE, is 65 percent in the UK. However, the regional imbalance is very large, in the village of Knownley in the village of Knownley, and reaches 83 percent in the rich Western London district of Richmond’s Thames.

The end of the primary school in the Key 2nd Stage, London’s 69 percent gain, last year, 61 percent of the national average was eight points above the national average. Between 2019 and 2024, the KS2 gain in the UK fell from 65 percent to 61 percent caused by the steep drops in mathematics and writing results.

The performance fell to all regions, but in London, a less extent – 2 points fell. As a result, the gap in the KS2 acquisition between London and the rest of the country has grown in half since its pandemi. The data also shows that the inequality in GCS acquisition among disadvantaged and non -Disadvated students has expanded in most local authorities since Covid and has made little progress in closing the gap between 2019 and 2024.

The government had previously promised to focus on closing the gaps in the results between children free school dishes and more advantageous peers, as well as to address special education needs and obstacles to accessing disabled children.

Earlier this year, the government announced that extra half a million children would benefit from a free school dinner and remove 100,000 students from poverty and put an extra £ £ £ 500 in their pockets. However, Caroline Vooaden, a South Devon Liberal Democratic Deputy sitting at the Commons Training Election Committee, called on the government to progress further by touching on the inequalities of funds throughout the country.

He told me Independent: “A glass school is paid about three times more than a school in Devon for each child with additional needs in their rolls. Thus, more teacher assistants, more expert aids, better facilities, more out of course activities, better and healthy foods, music, art and sports experts can give children outside London?”

Vooaden said that the school has raised the problem with the minister and said that he never received a sufficient answer ”. “Obviously, children around the country are disappointed with the focus of consecutive governments in London and that must be changed. Our children deserve better.”

First, the Head of Education Assistance Teaching James Toop warned that Pandemin has brought back a generation and paid the highest price of disadvantaged young people. In an alarming way, progress has been limited since then, social and regional inequalities have been growing.

The IFG report shows that inequality comes as a result of the distinguishing demographic mixture of the capital, and that it is the result of London’s drawing as a working place, that is, it is more likely to withdraw more qualified personnel. Thinking tank, especially disadvantaged students to fight with high absenteeism rates, to narrow the inequalities of education, “the key will be,” he said.

Recently, the number of education department figures showed that the number of children in the UK is classified as “serious absence ,, which has missed at least 50 percent of possible school sessions and rose to approximately 150,000 in the autumn of 2024.

Amber Dellar, an IFG researcher and report writer, said: “PANDEM has left behind most of its progress in the fight against education inequalities in the last decade, some areas and children’s groups are left behind. The government’s mission of opportunity is deprived of a clear vision, but it should focus on supporting these goals in schools.”

The report also showed that the country, where disadvantaged students worsened, is more likely to have large populations of poor white children. Less than fifth (18.6 percent) of white British students suitable for free school meals were considered as a at least 5th grade-strong transition ında in English and Mathematics GCSE in 2023-24 compared to 45.9 percent of all state school students in the UK.

An educational department spokesman said: ız We continue high and increasing standards for each child through the curriculum and evaluation examination led by expert, New Rise [Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence] Teams and school strengthen the accountability. This comes with the disadvantage of expanding free school meals, publishing free breakfast clubs and reviving family services in every local authority. But we know that there are more to be done, so we will bring the reforms needed through the White Book to create an education system that can develop without the backgrounds of our schools later this year. “