The new figures, released by the Department of Education this morning, were based on a study carried out across 11-year-olds in 16,000 schools across the country.
The survey showed that more disadvantaged pupils in England are moving on to secondary school with advanced literacy and numeracy skills than ever before.
When broken down in the statistics, just over two-thirds (67 percent) of pupils on free school meals gained a Level 4 grade in reading, writing and maths – an increase of four percentage points from last year.
This statistic is in comparison to 83 percent for non-disadvantaged pupils, reducing the attainment gap to 16 percentage points.
Speaking after the publication of the performance tables, Schools Minister David Laws said: “It’s encouraging to see the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers continue to narrow, and parents, teachers and pupils deserve to be congratulated for their efforts.”
However, he admitted that the department would not be resting on its laurels after the good news.
“We know there is more to do and there are still too many areas with simply unacceptable levels of attainment for disadvantaged pupils,” he added.
See the full list of the results from the study through this link.
