Attainment gap for disadvantaged pupils 'not good enough', children's service acknowledges

A ‘big programme’ of work is underway to attempt to iron out gaps in achievement at key stages in education for disadvantaged youngsters in the Royal Borough.

In a report released last week, figures showed that disadvantaged Key Stage 2 pupils in RBWM are more academically out of step with their peers than in most areas of the country.

The borough’s disadvantaged pupils performed ‘well below’ the national average – it scored in the bottom 20 per cent.

Key Stage 2 (KS2) covers ages seven to 11 and hits the major milestones in terms of developing core reading and writing skills.

Speaking at an adults, children and health overview and scrutiny panel on Monday, staff from Achieving for Children, which runs the Borough’s children’s services, explained the problems.

Vocabulary gaps can be a major barrier to learning, and the demands on writing at this age are ‘really high’.

Moreover, subjective judgements made by teachers can lead to ‘harsh marking’, which is a problem all over the country currently being observed by experts.

The Achieving for Children team hopes that there will be a push at central Government level to make changes to acknowledge these issues, including changes to the curriculum.

These attainment differences between disadvantaged pupils and others tend to even out later down the line, with disadvantaged young people seeming to catch up by around GCSE level.

Nonetheless, Clive Haines, deputy director of education at AfC, said the disadvantage gap in Windsor and Maidenhead is ‘not good enough’ and improving this is ‘a real focus’.

As such, AfC is involved in a ‘big programme’ of work with Tom Sherrington, a ‘highly regarded education consultant’.

Last year the borough had 35 primary and secondary schools engage with the WalkThrus project, a development resource for teachers which provides structured guides for effective teaching strategies.

It is ‘clear to schools are embracing the programme,’ AfC say, and the borough is about to start the second phase, intending to target the remaining schools to join up.

AfC has also been focusing on ‘Quality First Teaching’ – inclusive teaching that meets the needs of all pupils in the classroom, especially those who may be disadvantaged or have additional needs.

This involves teachers looking at their own responsibilities ‘to be as effective as they possibly can,’ and engaging in coaching programmes with experts.

Further, the Royal Borough is working with Marc Rowland, a political adviser in the field of education, and is in the process of having him coming to work with the borough.

One of the borough’s biggest challenges is that its disadvantaged pupils are fairly scattered. There may be two or three per cohort, whose needs are high. This makes it more challenging to concentrate resources to meet these needs.

There is a similar situation in neighbouring authorities, including Buckinghamshire, AfC said.