It clearly sets out that the gap
between children on free school meals and all other children is actually wider in wholly - selective areas than in nonselective.
We know that the education gap
between children on free school meals who go to grammars and their better - off counterparts is closed during the course of their education.
Latest figures show a 31 % gap in GCSE performance
between children on free school meals and their peers, although this gap has narrowed slightly.
But in secondary schools, the attainment gap
between children on free school meals (FSM) and their better - off peers has refused to budge in a decade.
A Department for Education spokeswoman said that grammar schools have a «track record of closing the attainment gap to almost zero
between children on free school meals and their better off classmates».
He also referenced the fact that the attainment gap at GCSE level in Hackney
between children on free school meals and those who are not is 14.6 per cent, compared to a 34 per cent gap in Kent, which operates a selective system.
Not exact matches
If the achievement of
children who are temporarily eligible for
free school meals due to the recession is higher than
children whose families are
on benefits for a longer period of time, then the gap
between free school meal and non-
free school meal children will narrow.
Children on free school meals achieve almost half a GCSE grade less in Attainment 8 core subjects than more affluent pupils, according to the report, and 88 per cent of this gap is believed to be due to differences
between pupils at the same
school.
New research by the Social Mobility Commission has uncovered a progression gap
between choices made by
children on free school meals and their more affluent peers which can not be explained by their results at
school or where they live.
The improved results for disadvantaged
children (those who qualify for
free school meals) this summer builds
on an increase of four percentage points
between 2013 and 2014
The research also failed to find a «significant positive impact»
on social mobility, and in fact found that the gap
between the proportion of
children on free school meals attaining five A * to C GCSEs including English and maths and all other
children was actually wider in selective areas (34.1 per cent) than in non-selective areas (27.8 per cent).