Better Odds at School

Date: 27th September 2010
Category: Education, Leisure and Cultural Activities

It is unacceptable that at every stage of schooling Scotland's poorest children do worse and make less progress than their better off classmates.

The stark link between levels of deprivation at home and a child's success in the classroom is a divide that exists in every part of Scotland.

• On average there is a 60% gap in attainment levels between children living in low income households and their better off classmates.
• However, the size of the gap varies between local areas. For example, in Eilean Siar there is only a 19% difference but in Stirling better-off pupils perform over 100% better.
• These statistics are based on analysis of average tariff scores at S4 by whether a pupil is registered for free school meals or not.

What is Save the Children calling for:

The organisation believes that every child should have a fair chance to succeed at school. Ahead of next year's elections, Save the Children is urging the Scottish Government and all political parties to commit to prioritise action to address the education achievement gap.

A range of measures that address school and non school factors are required to address this issue. Save the Children believes one part of the solution is to invest in additional school spending targeted at children living in poverty. The organisation believes this could be done through the introduction of a Pupil Premium that provides additional money to schools to fund extra support that is proven to help the poorest children realise their potential.

Please read the STC policy briefing for further information.

 

Get involved

- Sign a petition online.

- Sign your organisation up as an official supporter of the campaign. The Church of Scotland is already on board.

- Promote the campaign within your organisation or to your networks. Promotional materials (posters and scratch cards, overview sheet) are available on request.