Development of disadvanted Yorkshire children is two years behind affluent peers, report finds

The report from Teach First, the charity which trains teachers, also found that by the time they sit their GCSEs disadvantaged youngsters are two years behind their more affluent peers.

It is calling on the government to make persistent disadvantage visible and introduce a top up to the pupil premium under this metric.

Teach First also wants financial incentives to be introduced by the Department for Education to retain teachers in poorer areas.

The charity defines persistently disadvantaged pupils as those who have been eligible for free school meals for at least 80 per cent of their time in school.

The report finds that more than two in five of these schoolchildren are not on the pathway to a substantial qualification or apprenticeship after Year 11 in Barnsley, with that figure at more than a third in Sheffield.

Leeds also has high rates of disadvantaged children left Neet, not in education, employment or training, at the age of 16.

Across the whole of the region, 29 per cent of such pupils are left in this situation, almost double the proportion of London.

Mercia Academy in Sheffield, a Teach First partner school, is working to close the gap for its pupils.

Josh Fisher, the school’s headteacher, said: “Every day, I see what persistent disadvantage can look like – students carrying pressures that extend well beyond the school gates.

“Across the country, the odds remain stacked against some of the most vulnerable young people.

“But I have also seen first-hand at Mercia that poor outcomes are not inevitable.

“This report shows why it is so important that persistent disadvantage is recognised and understood as a distinct challenge within our education system.

“If we target support where it is needed most, more young people can succeed regardless of their background.”

The figures come following a report from New Labour grandee Alan Milburn last month, who warned it was costing the UK around £125bn a year.

He said it was “the most significant challenge facing the country today” and argued tackling it is “more than an economic crisis, it is a moral one”.

The sum, said to take in losses in taxes alongside higher health and welfare spending, is more than annual education spending in England and could rise if the situation worsens, the interim report by an ex-Labour health secretary suggested.

The Government-commissioned report came as Office for National Statistics figures showed the number of young people neither working nor learning has topped one million for the first time since 2013.