Skip to main content
Regional secretary with the National Education Union
Pupils on free meals ‘less than half as likely to get top GCSE grades’
Tories have ‘abandoned’ poorer school students, says Labour

SCHOOL students on free school meals have been abandoned by the Tories, Labour said today, as the exams watchdog revealed a growing “attainment gap.”

As data released by Ofqual showed that the poorest pupils were less than half as likely to get top GCSE grades, opposition leaders blasted ministers for presiding over year-on-year growth in inequality.

Just under 14 per cent of grades for students on free meals were at Level 7 or above — equivalent to an old A grade — compared with 31 per cent of the rest, a gap that has grown by 17 per cent in four years.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Britain / 19 September 2021
19 September 2021
Britain / 19 September 2021
19 September 2021
Insulate Britain activists block the M25
Britain / 17 September 2021
17 September 2021
Similar stories
BRAVE NEW WORLD? Annual British Educational Training and Technology conference in London, January 2025, where Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson set out plans to use technology to ‘modernise’ the education system, support teachers and ‘deliver’ for pupils
Technology / 27 June 2025
27 June 2025

NICOLA SARAH HAWKINS explains how an under-regulated introduction of AI into education is already exacerbating inequalities


Pupils in a classroom
Britain / 17 March 2025
17 March 2025

A lunch tray in the school canteen
Britain / 12 March 2025
12 March 2025
Campaigners urge government to roll out universal free school meals