Gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged Bedford pupils widens

Councillors also heard the age-related expected level at Key Stage Two for both groups is below the national average.

But the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Monday, January 27) also heard that Bedford borough has a number of interventions in place to improve education outcomes for all children.

Chris Morris, chief officer for education, SEND and schools infrastructure, told the committee: “In Bedford borough overall attainment data is improving, but it’s still below the national average at key stage two.

“And it’s particularly true for pupils who identified as disadvantaged.”

He explained that the Department for Education (DfE) defines disadvantage as children who receive free school meals, or have been eligible in the past six years, are looked after by local authorities, are adopted, are a child of a family in the armed forces, or are receiving pupil premium funding.

“Education attainment for children in Bedford is improving at nearly every key stage, slightly decreasing in Good Level of Development in early years.

“And the rate of progress at Key Stage 2 for the wider cohort over the past two years placed Bedford Joint top out of the 152 local authorities who submitted data.

“In 2024, 55 per cent of all children achieved the age-related expected level in reading, writing, and maths combined in key stage two compared to 61 per cent of children nationally, so a gap of 6 [percentage points].

“38 per cent of Bedford borough children who identified as disadvantaged achieved the combined measure at the end of key stage two compared to 45 per cent of disadvantaged children nationally.

“In 2023 the gap between disadvantaged children and non-disadvantaged children was 19 per cent and in 2024 the gap was 22 per cent.

“That 22 per cent is actually better than the national average between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged, however we’re below national on both so I don’t want to highlight that as too much of a success at that point,” he said.

The report presented to the committee said raising the attainment of pupils identified as disadvantaged at all Key stages is one of two specific foci for all school improvement work this year.

The second is raising attainment in writing.

It added that this means that all school improvement work, commissioned and core team always includes work around disadvantaged so that “every interaction with school staff and governors has a standard agenda item of disadvantage”.

This includes meetings, curriculum consultancy, planning, training, and the production of materials.

“I quoted a recent speech from Sir Martyn Oliver, Ofsted’s Chief Inspector in the report where he said ‘..expecting the highest standards for all children, especially the disadvantaged and vulnerable – because if you get it right for them, you get it right for everyone’,” he said.

“I’ve never once walked into a school that is doing an absolutely fantastic job with disadvantaged children and isn’t a fantastic job for all children.

“All of our school improvement work with our maintained schools and commissioned schools as well always includes work and dedicated conversations around the support that’s been put in place to support disadvantaged children,” he said.