This year’s GCSE and A-level results revealed stark inequalities between the north and south of England. In London, 28.4% of GCSE exams were graded 7-9, compared with 17.6% in the north-east and 18.6% in the north-west. A-level results mirrored the trend, with 30% of grades at A or A* in London versus 22% in the north-east and 24% in the north-west.
Glyn Potts, headteacher of St John Henry Newman Catholic college in Oldham, linked the gap to persistent absence, which has soared since the pandemic. He described how a minibus collects children unwilling to attend, but noted deeper issues: “We had a number of children who stopped coming in on certain days because mums had taken extra shifts and the older child was staying home to collect the youngest from primary school.” Potts added that some pupils from low-income families are drawn into county lines drug dealing, and that “children aren’t going to be interested in school if they haven’t got a bed.”
Frank Norris, education adviser to the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, argued that schools need support to re-engage families. “The idea that they are all just lazy good-for-nothings is wrong,” he said. “In the most acute areas, the stress in families is worse than I’ve ever seen.” He warned that schools with 2,000 pupils and 250 regular non-attenders face an overwhelming challenge.
Sir Kevan Collins, who resigned as the government’s schools recovery tsar in 2021 after only 10% of his proposed £15bn package was funded, told the Observer that his fear of widening gaps had been confirmed. “Teachers and schools have been heroic, and they were abandoned. The scale required a national endeavour. It still does,” he said.
