According to new figures, school investments have helped youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds bridge the gap to non-disadvantaged student peers in the Barking and Dagenham area.
The gap demonstrates how much longer it takes a disadvantaged pupil to make the same progress as their peers.
The borough is now rated among the best performing in the country, with the disadvantage gap between the two groups standing at just 1.2 months for early years, six months for primary schools and 7.7 months for secondary schools.
When compared to the national statistics of 4.3 months for early years, 9.4 months for primary school children and 18.4 months for secondary schools the figures show that the borough’s education performance is very strong.
Across the results in England, Barking and Dagenham had the fourth smallest gap for early years (0-4-year-olds), the 20th smallest gap at primary school level and the 11th lowest gap for pupils at secondary schools.
This news follows recent Ofsted inspection results where nine of the ten borough’s schools were rated as either good or outstanding.
Councillor Evelyn Carpenter, Cabinet Member for Educational Attainment and School Improvement, praised the efforts of schools, their staff, parents and youngsters.
Cllr Carpenter said:” This latest success is part of our long-term vision to raise educational standards in Barking and Dagenham, and I am delighted that we are starting to see results that are making a real difference to lives of our young people.
“However, we still have work to do to ensure every student has the same opportunities to learn, develop and achieve, and we are determined to eradicate the education gap in our borough.”
