childhood and the social floor · the national record
The school attainment gap in England
England's state school pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 46.0 in 2024-25, down from the 2018-19 pre-pandemic baseline of 46.7. The disadvantage gap -- between pupils who have ever been eligible for free school meals and those who have not -- stands at 15.5 points and has widened since the pandemic. Yet the headline conceals a striking reversal: the gap is narrowest in inner London, where disadvantaged pupils nearly match the national non-disadvantaged average, and widest in some of England's most affluent areas.
How to read this
Attainment 8 measures the average grade score across eight GCSE equivalent subjects. Figures are for all state funded mainstream schools in England on a pupil residency basis, 2024-25 revised release. Progress 8 is not published for this cohort: Key Stage 2 national assessments were cancelled during the pandemic, so no prior attainment baseline exists. The disadvantage gap index is a DfE measure of the full grade distribution gap; a higher value means a wider gap.
Source: DfE, KS4 performance 2024-25 revised (published 5 February 2026). OGL v3.0. britishresilienceindex.com/deep-dive/attainment
childhood and the social floor · the national record
National average: 46.0 -- down on the pre-pandemic baseline
England's state school pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 46.0 in 2024-25, 0.7 points below the 2018-19 pre-pandemic benchmark of 46.7. Progress 8 -- which measures value added relative to prior attainment -- is not published for this cohort, because Key Stage 2 assessments were cancelled during the pandemic. The disadvantage gap has widened to 15.5 points in 2024-25, up from 13.6 in 2018-19. The DfE disadvantage gap index has risen from 3.66 in 2016-17 to 3.92 in 2024-25.
geography of attainment
A 21.7 point spread across local authorities
At local authority level -- using pupil residency and a minimum of 200 pupils for stability -- A8 scores range from 37.4 in Gosport to 59.1 in Richmond upon Thames, a spread of 21.7 points. The highest attaining areas are concentrated in outer London and the Home Counties; the lowest span coastal towns and post-industrial districts in the North West and eastern England.
Highest Attainment 8
Lowest Attainment 8
Attainment 8 average score, state funded schools, pupil residency, 2024-25 revised. State funded schools, pupil residency basis, 2024-25 revised. Local authorities with fewer than 200 pupils are excluded.
the myth buster
The gap is widest in wealthy areas, narrowest in inner London
The gap between non-disadvantaged and disadvantaged pupils in the same local authority inverts the simple A8 league table. The narrowest gaps are in inner London: Newham's disadvantaged pupils score 48.4, nearly matching the national non-disadvantaged average of 50.4, giving a gap of just 5.9 points. Tower Hamlets (7.1 points) and Hackney follow. The widest gaps are in affluent commuter towns and university cities, where non-disadvantaged pupils score well above the national average while disadvantaged pupils remain near it. The pattern reflects London's sustained school improvement effort and differences in who counts as disadvantaged across the country.
Narrowest gap
Widest gap
Gap = non-disadvantaged A8 minus disadvantaged A8, pupil residency, 2024-25 revised. Minimum 200 disadvantaged pupils required.
the long view
The gap index: 3.66 in 2016-17, 3.92 in 2024-25
The DfE disadvantage gap index fell from 4.07 in 2010-11 to 3.66 in 2016-17 and again in 2019-20, suggesting slow but sustained narrowing. The pandemic reversed that trend: the index rose to 3.84 in 2021-22 and has remained elevated, reaching 3.92 in 2024-25. Whether the post-pandemic widening is a temporary catch up lag or a structural shift is not yet clear from the data.
DfE disadvantage gap index, 2010-11 (4.07) to 2024-25 (3.92). Source: DfE.
questions this raises
What the data does not settle
- 1.
Why do London's disadvantaged pupils outperform the national average? The London effect is well documented -- high teacher quality, sustained improvement programmes, higher school spending per pupil -- but the causal weight of each factor remains contested.
- 2.
Is the widest gap in affluent areas a selection effect? In a wealthy local authority, non-disadvantaged pupils tend to be high attaining; the few who are disadvantaged face a steeper relative gap. That partly explains the arithmetic, but does not fully account for it.
- 3.
Will the gap return to its pre-pandemic low? The gap index reached 3.66 in 2019-20. It is now 0.26 points higher. Whether tutoring programmes, pupil premium spending, and SEND reform are sufficient to close that distance is not yet visible in the data.
- 4.
What happens when Progress 8 is restored? The 2024-25 cohort is the last without a KS2 baseline. Progress 8 will return for 2025-26, giving a sharper picture of whether disadvantaged pupils are gaining ground relative to their starting point, not just in absolute scores.
Sources & method
Data provenance
- DfE: Key stage 4 performance 2024 to 2025 (revised, published 5 February 2026) -- national characteristics summary, all state funded schools ↗· OGL v3.0
- DfE: Disadvantage gap index -- KS4 performance 2024 to 2025 (revised, published 5 February 2026) ↗· OGL v3.0
- DfE: Key stage 4 performance 2024 to 2025 (revised, published 5 February 2026) -- local authority district data ↗· OGL v3.0
Caveats & data notes
- Attainment 8 is an average score across eight subjects. Two areas with identical A8 averages can have very different distributions of grades.
- Progress 8 is not published for the 2024-25 cohort because KS2 national assessments were cancelled during the pandemic. Year on year comparisons of school effectiveness are therefore limited for this cohort.
- The disadvantage measure covers pupils eligible for free school meals at any point in the past six years, plus children in care and care leavers. It is a proxy for low income, not a precise measure. The proportion of pupils classified as disadvantaged varies by area, which affects the gap measure.
- DfE terminology uses 'not known to be disadvantaged' rather than 'non-disadvantaged'. The population includes pupils whose disadvantage status is simply not recorded.
- Local authority figures use a pupil residency basis and are excluded where the disadvantaged pupil count is below 200, to avoid unstable small sample statistics.
- The 2024-25 figures come from the DfE revised release published on 5 February 2026, which superseded the first release of 16 October 2025. DfE published final school level data on 21 April 2026, but that update changed only the school level files, which this page does not use.
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