Nick distributes gifts to disadvantaged Warwickshire Primary School Pupils

That pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds should not do as well at school as children from better-off backgrounds has seemed to be as inevitable as the sun rising in the East.

But the "attainment gap" has been closing.

One of key items in the Liberal Democrats 2010 manifesto and one of Nick Clegg's obsessions was the pupil premium - a school funding system which gives more money to schools to work with their most disadvantaged pupils. This then got locked into the Coalition Agreement with the tories.

In November it was announced that next year (2015-16) the pupil premium for primary school children would rise to £1,320 for each disadvantaged school pupil.

Recently released test results show that more pupils are reaching level 4 at key stage 2 (the end of Primary School) and that the gap between rich and poor pupils is reducing. There is still a significant gap but it is closing.

A Rugby School performed particularly strongly in closing the gap. At Abbots Farm Junior School the performance of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds in reaching level 4 (88% achieved this level) was almost the same as the other pupils at the school (92% achieved this level). On this measure the school performed significantly better than the English average - 21 percentage points better for disadvantaged pupils and 9 percentage points better for all other pupils.

Links

BBC article on poorer pupils who are closing the gap http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-30413263