THE number of long-term disadvantaged children rose before the Covid pandemic, according to a new report.

A new report suggests that the number of pupils from poorer backgrounds rose across many parts of the country prior to the pandemic, while long-term disadvantage is impacting academic performance.

The Northern Powerhouse Partnership compared numbers of secondary schools with a high level of long-term disadvantaged high impact pupils between 2017 and 2019, as well as analysing attainment at GCSE level.

Long-term disadvantaged pupils are those in secondary school who spent at least 80 per cent of time on free school meals as well as those from “high impact” groups, primarily from White British and Black Caribbean backgrounds.

There has been a sharp increase in the number of these schools in just one year, rising by 16 per cent between 2018 and 2019.

At the end of the 2018/19 academic year there were 537 schools in England with at least 10 per cent of their Year 11 pupils in the long-term disadvantaged high impact group.

These schools were found to be largely concentrated in the North, with 14 per cent of schools in the North-East and 25 per cent in the North West.

Some 10.1 per cent of North-East pupils are in long-term disadvantage high impact group, the highest in the country, followed by the North West at 7.3 per cent.

The region's figure is almost double the national average and well above the lowest level of 2.8 per cent recorded in Outer London.

The impact of long-term disadvantage on attainment also appears to be increasing.

Some 71 per cent of schools with high numbers of long-term disadvantaged pupils saw their attainment significantly below the national average for Pupil Premium children – an increase from 67 per cent in 2018.

Pupil Premium is additional school funding for disadvantaged children.

The report adds to growing concerns around a crisis in education given that the data used was taken even before Covid-19.

Henri Murison, director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “Even prior to the pandemic, children in the North East were facing a number of barriers to their educational attainment.

"The proportion of long-term disadvantaged children is highest here - almost double the national average - meaning catch-up will be even harder when schools do reopen.

“This issue of disadvantage has been compounded by the best part of a year of school closures, where the digital divide means many children are simply unable to work effectively from home.

"In the North East, there are at least 55,000 families without access to a laptop, PC or tablet to work from.”

NPP is calling for £34m to fund a mentoring programme for disadvantaged GCSE pupils in the North, scaling up the existing GROW mentoring scheme funded by the local authority in Barnsley.

The programme links children with recent graduates from Sheffield Hallam University, who are trained to provide academic and wellbeing support and guidance.

Lord Jim O’Neill, vice-chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “It goes without saying that this past year has deepened the divide in our educational system but this report shows that the situation was far from perfect even before the pandemic.

“We’ve gone past the point where this is simply a disadvantage gap; what we’re talking about is a disadvantage chasm.

“Driving up educational standards among all children and young people has always been and remains one of the cornerstones of the Northern Powerhouse vision.

“We now need bold, swift action from the government. Firstly, a northern mentoring programme for every disadvantaged pupil at GCSE level. Secondly, emergency funds to support pupil premium recipients and reform to target this at the most vulnerable. Lastly, we need measures to address place-based issues that take place beyond the school gate.

“Continued confusion or delayed action would permanently damage the futures of a generation of young people - at the exact moment when we most need their skills and talent to drive a recovery and level up the country.”

In 2011 the Government introduced Pupil Premium to direct additional funding to disadvantaged pupils in an effort to close the divide between poorer children and their peers.

The education disadvantage gap then steadily narrowed until 2017, when progress stalled and the divide began to widen again in 2019, according to analysis published in August.

Schools North East, which represents 1,150 schools in the region, welcomed the report and says disruption caused by Covid presents an opportunity to look at larger-scale reform to tackle the disadvantage gap.

Chris Zarraga, director of the organisation, said: ‘The report from the Northern Powerhouse Partnership highlights once again the high levels of long term disadvantage in our region.

"When this context is taken into account, pupils in the North East perform no worse than their peers across the country, however, this is not properly reflected in any accountability measures.

"We welcome the approach of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership to try and tackle this problem, however, given that traditional accountability measures have been disrupted significantly by the impact of Covid, this is an ideal opportunity for the Government to reflect on these accountability measures with a view to reform.

"We have relied on a high stakes exams system which Covid has proved is not fit for purpose, while the system of SATs for younger students has not been missed as part of the transition.

"We are now in the second year of disruption to these traditional benchmarks, and therefore to return to these in 2022 would miss the opportunity to work with the teaching profession to create a system that is fair for all students.

"This would be well supported by more targeted pupil premium as proposed by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership."

NPP is also calling on universities from across the North to recruit their recent graduates and the class of 2021 to help deliver this programme to the most vulnerable young people in their regions.