There has been a sharp increase in the number of schools with high levels of long-term disadvantage pupils in the years before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to this report by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.
The report revealed that last year there were 537 secondary schools in England with at least 10 per cent of pupils who had long-term disadvantage, having qualified for free school meals for at least 80 per cent of their time in school.
The new report also warns that the impact of this disadvantage on attainment appears to be increasing, with schools with higher numbers of these students seeing exam performance drop.
The number of schools in this category increased by 16 per cent between 2018 and 2019.
The NPP, which brings together political and business leaders in the North, also warned that these schools were concentrated in the North of England.