Alison Kershaw of the Press Association reports Sutton Trust and EEF reaction to reports that the pupil premium may be narrowed in focus.

Plans to provide extra money for disadvantaged children who start school with low levels of attainment are being looked at, which would be paid for by cutting the pupil premium funding for higher-attaining pupils, the Times Educational Supplement (TES) said.

The pupil premium – worth £2.5 billion a year – is received by state schools for each child eligible for means-tested free school meals.

Some two million pupils were classed as disadvantaged in 2014 and the funding is aimed at improving their results and closing the gap between them and classmates from more affluent backgrounds.

…..

But among those against the idea is the Sutton Trust, which published research earlier this year that found that a third of bright but disadvantaged boys seriously underachieve at age 16.

Its chief executive, Dr Lee Elliot Major, said today: “It’s important for social mobility that the pupil premium continues to be paid for all disadvantaged pupils, without discrimination between low and high attainers.

“Our research has shown that disadvantaged but bright pupils fall behind at school so it is important that schools are able to use their additional funding to provide stretching lessons for this group as well as helping low attainers to make good progress.”

Sir Kevan Collins, chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation, which also opposes it, said: “We know that bright children from low income homes have much lower education outcomes than their better-off peer who enters secondary education at a similar level.

“The fact that a pupil’s chance of reaching their full potential is linked to their background shows us how important it is that all disadvantaged pupils, regardless of where they’re currently achieving, have the support and advice they need to thrive.”

Read the full PA report, which was used in over 100 media outlets, at the Express and Star here.

Read a summary of the TES story by Kaye Wiggins, which also quoted the Sutton Trust, here

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