'Invest in the futures of disadvantaged children'

EXAMINATION results in England this month demonstrate deep seated inequalities between students.

- Charlotte Atkins - Labour councillor for Leek and Cabinet Member for Services at Staffordshire Moorlands District Council

There are widening regional gaps in attainment with the West Midlands losing out and students from white working-class backgrounds falling further behind.

According to teachers, pupil behaviour has also worsened, making their ability to help the most vulnerable children much more difficult.

in November last year, figures from the Department for Education revealed that the number of school pupil suspensions had nearly doubled in the autumn term of 2023 compared with before the pandemic in autumn 2019.

The exclusion rate for the poorest pupils, eligible for free school meals, was six times higher than those not eligible.

More than 10,000 children were permanently excluded from England’s state schools in the last 2023-24 academic year with record numbers of suspensions involving pupils aged six or younger or with special needs.

That is the legacy of the previous Conservative Government that left 4.5 million children in poverty and allowed suspensions and exclusions to spiral out of control.

By contrast, in 1999 the Labour Government introduced Sure Start, a project which invested in early years care and education.