Daily Mail - 30.07.2019

Page 31

Countdown: A futuristic Santa at Selfridges yesterday

GCSE gap grows

as poor pupils fall

18 months behind

Poor teenagers are 18

months behind their wealth-

ier peers in GCSE attainment

as progress in closing the

divide has come to a stand-

still, a report has revealed.

The gap between disadvan-

taged pupils and others wid-

ened between 2017 and 2018,

halting progress for the first

time since 2011.

research concluded that it will

take more than five centuries for

the gap to close if the most recent

five-year trend continues.

The Education Policy Institute’s

annual report found that disadvan-

tage gaps are larger – and growing

• in parts of northern England.
  researchers calculated that in
  2018 poorer students were gener-
  ally around 9.2 months behind at
  the end of primary school.
  By the time they took their
  GCSEs, they were lagging by 18.1
  months in average attainment in
  English and maths. This figure
  grew by 0.2 since 2017.
  For all GCSE subjects, the figure
  remained unchanged from 2017 at
  18.4 months. The research com-
  pared pupils eligible for free school
  meals at any time in a six-year
  period with better-off peers. The

most persistently disadvantaged

students – eligible for free meals for

at least 80 per cent of their time in

school – are almost two years (22.6

months) behind by the time they

leave secondary school.

EPI’s executive chairman David

Laws, a former Liberal Democrat

schools minister, called the findings

a ‘major setback’ for social mobility.

He said: ‘Educational inequality on

this scale is bad for both social

Teachers and school leaders are

helping to drive up standards right

across the country, with 85 per cent

of children now in good or out-

standing schools compared to just

66 per cent in 2010.

‘But there is more to do to con-

tinue to attract and retain talented

individuals in our classrooms.’

Labour education spokesman

Angela rayner said: ‘Successive

Tory governments have cut school

budgets for the first time in a gener-

ation and slashed funding from Sure

Start to further education, and now

we are seeing the consequences.

‘Sadly there is no reason to expect

that will change with the new Prime

Minister and Education Secretary,

who are intent on handing out yet

more massive tax giveaways to the

super-rich rather than investing in

all our children.’

Paul Whiteman, of school leaders’

union NAHT, said the widening gap

must not ‘become a turning point’

after progress in recent years. He

called for ‘an immediate multi-bil-

lion-pound emergency investment’.

Mr Whiteman said this should

come ‘alongside a long-term com-

mitment to sufficient education

funding’ and investment in services

schools and families rely on. He

claimed: ‘Without this, any prom-

ises of a brighter future will fail.’

Daily Mail Reporter

BRITAIN may have been roasting

in record temperatures, but for

those looking ahead Christmas

has come early at Selfridges.

With nearly five months still to

go before the big day, the depart-

ment store claims its London

yuletide shop, which opened yes-

terday, is the first in the world to

launch this year.

Many families are likely still

thinking about jetting off on a

sun-soaked beach holiday, so the

shop’s 600-plus festive lines,

including lifelike trees, luxury

decorations and crackers, might

seem a touch premature.

But Selfridges insists the Christ-

mas section has proved increas-

ingly popular with tourists and UK

visitors in recent years.

The shop’s earliest ever launch

included a Santa dressed in a

space-age outfit to match the

theme of ‘future fantasy’ and saw

100 more product lines introduced

compared with last year.

The firm’s Eleanor Gregory said

the early launch ‘simply addresses

the growing demand for conven-

ience Christmas shopping outside

the traditional Christmas season

from many of our customers’.

In September, the shop’s selec-

tion will rise to 3,500 lines. The

cheapest tree decoration is a sil-

ver glass bauble at £6. The most

expensive bauble on sale now is a

Santa on a motorcycle at £45.

By Sean Poulter

Consumer Affairs Editor

‘Major setback for

social mobility’

Daily Mail, Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Picture: JENNY GOODALL

mobility and economic productiv-

ity. This report should be a wake-

up call for our new Prime Minister.

‘We need a renewed policy drive to

narrow the disadvantage gap – and

this needs to be based on evidence

of what makes an impact, rather

than on political ideology or guess-

work.’ However, the Government

claimed the gap had ‘narrowed

considerably’ in recent years.

School standards minister Nick

Gibb stressed: ‘We are investing

£2.4billion this year alone through

the Pupil Premium to help the

most disadvantaged children.

Ho-ho-no! Selfridges’ earliest Xmas ever