Social mobility report outlines five secrets to closing achievement gap

Schools alone cannot secure social mobility and there are no “simple answers”, education leaders have warned this week.

It comes after a social mobility report said there was “an urgent need” to spread best practice in how schools can overcome the barriers of disadvantage.

Cracking the Code, published by the government’s Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, finds that one in nine secondaries are enabling their disadvantaged pupils to far exceed what would have been predicted for them based on national trends. It outlines five key lessons that we can learn from these schools.

The report highlights that six in 10 disadvantaged children – those eligible for free school meals during the last six years – do not reach the benchmark of five A* to C GCSEs including English and maths. This compares to one in three students from more advantaged backgrounds.