High achieving disadvantaged pupils less likely to get top GCSE grades

Only 40 per cent of disadvantaged pupils identified as high-achieving at the start of secondary school go on to achieve top GCSE grades, compared with 62 per cent of their more affluent peers, new research has found.

Research by UCL Professor John Jerrim and Dr Maria Palma Carvajal, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, found that academic gaps begin to emerge between high achieving advantaged and disadvantaged pupils between the ages of 11 and 14.

Analysis of ONS and Department for Education data found that high achieving disadvantaged pupils are 26 percentage points less likely to achieve an A or A* in maths, and 21 percentage points less likely to achieve an A or A* in English, compared to their high-income peers.