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A study claims faith primary schools ‘serve as hubs of relative advantage, seeming disproportionately to serve children from more affluent families’ and those less likely to have special educational needs

Youth custody has severe long-term consequences for detained young people. Stephen Machin, Sandra McNally and Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela investigate the relationship between GCSE qualifications and youth custody, and find that underlying problems become evident in early adolescence.

A new study indicates a potential link between extended breastfeeding periods and modest improvements in academic performance during adolescence.

A family trip to the theatre or an afternoon at a museum may be a fun day out, but new research suggests that such cultural outings will not actually help children secure higher grades.

There have been persistent theories that wealthier children may be given an advantage in their school careers by being pressed into visits to art galleries and exhibitions. According to a new academic study, however, outings often regarded as “middle class” had no correlation with improved GCSE results.

New research from the Sutton Trust reveals disturbing gaps in progression and earnings following post 16 education. 

While qualified disadvantaged students in FE colleges are more likely to progress to higher education than those in sixth forms, the research also finds that the majority of students that leave compulsory education with a level 1 or 2 qualification had not gained any further qualifications a decade later. This was particularly the case for those that did not achieve 5+ GCSEs at key stage 4.

Researchers at the Centre for Vocational Education Research (CVER) followed the progress of two cohorts on young people to determine how their backgrounds and post 16 institutions impacted on their journeys to the workplace and higher education. One cohort completed their GCSEs in 2002/03 and the other in 2010/11 and students from both cohorts had their HE and employment status recorded at age 28.

The Russell Group, an organisation representing 24 leading universities in the UK, has released a report detailing their aims to reduce inequalities in the education sector within universities.

The ‘Pathways to Potential’ report details the present inequalities for disadvantaged students when accessing higher education, highlighting key gaps present in social, geographic, and minority student equality still being present despite the rise of under-represented groups attending such universities. 

Over 1,000 disadvantaged students who did well in primary school are missing out on top grades at GCSE each year, according to new research published by the Sutton Trust today.

Potential for Success looks at how students with high prior attainment in England perform at school and reviews the evidence to find out how best to support them to reach their full potential.

The report finds that poorer pupils are less likely to perform well at the end of primary school than their classmates. Only 4% of disadvantaged students score in the top 10% when they’re 11 years old, compared to 13% of their more advantaged peers.

The government could face legal action over the way it handles pupil data as pressure grows to publish a full audit of its practices.

Education programmes to help support Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils have been launched by Communities Minister, Lord Greenhalgh.

The new programmes will focus on boosting educational attainment, tackling exclusion and drop-out rates and improving pathways to employment for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children, backed by £1m worth of government funding.

Children experiencing poor mental health are three times less likely than their peers to pass five GCSEs including maths and English, according to a study.

The government is setting up a new online panel of 5,000 pupils and parents who will complete fortnightly surveys to inform coronavirus policymaking.

The Department for Education is looking for a contractor to set up the “parent and pupil panel” to “help monitor the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on children and young people”.

About 1,000 high-attaining primary schools are missing out on top GCSE grades, while their richer peers with the same prior attainment are pulling ahead.

Just over half of poorer pupils who were within the top 10 per cent of key stage 2 scores in English and maths at primary school went on to get top grades at GCSE, compared with nearly three quarters of their wealthier counterparts.