Leadership

The Impact of Lockdown on Children’s Education: A Nationwide Analysis

The attainment gap between pupils eligible for pupil premium and those who are not has widened significantly.

This report from RS Assessment on test results in maths, reading, grammar, punctuation and spelling show that attainment has dropped across all subjects and year groups in 2020.

The data on over 250,000 primary school pupils across England is based on widely used tests and show the most significant decreases in maths papers, while Year 3 and 2 pupils faced the steepest drop-off of any cohort.

The data shows an average standardised score decline of 8 points in maths, 6.3 in reading and 7.2 in grammar, punctuation and spelling across all pupils compared to 2019 data, with greater reductions seen for pupil premium eligible pupils.

This is a stark contrast to the average annual gains of 0.5 points since the current curriculum began in 2016.

The tests were scheduled to take place during the summer term; however, pupils sat them four months later, at the beginning of this autumn term, due to the school closures.

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