Reading and attendance are two of the two biggest barriers to progress for disadvantaged children according to an analysis of schools’ Pupil Premium statements.
Undertaken by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), curators of the Teaching and Learning Toolkit, the analysis coincides with the launch of a new suite of resources to help schools’ Pupil Premium work this year.
The breakdown of a representative sample of 300 schools’ Pupil Premium strategy statements from the last academic year reveals that 75% cite attendance and 74% reading as the main barriers to attainment for pupils eligible for the funding.
School attendance has been an on-going challenge since the pandemic, with the latest figures showing a persistent absence rate of more than 24%. The EEF findings come a day after the Education Select Committee published the findings of its inquiry into school attendance.
