OXFORDSHIRE’S most disadvantaged primary school pupils are consistently outperformed by youngsters from similar backgrounds across England.

Analysis by the Oxford Mail shows that if your child is Asian, is poor, or speaks English as a second language, they are less likely to reach expected levels than pupils elsewhere.

And the figures show Oxford is outperformed by Tower Hamlets, London’s poorest borough, on key tests in reading, writing and maths for all pupils.

The figures show:

  • Eleven per cent fewer Asian children reach the expected levels in writing than Asian youngsters nationwide.
  • Eight per cent fewer children who speak English as a second language achieve the expected grades in writing than on average.
  • Children on free school meals (FSM), given to the poorest pupils, are 10 per cent less likely to reach the expected grades in reading and writing.

Only one council area, North Somerset, has fewer FSM seven-year-olds reaching the expected levels.

And while the gaps begin to close by the time they leave primary school, attainment remains significantly below the national average.

Just 52 per cent of county 11-year-olds on free school meals reach the expected Level Four in English and maths by the age of 11. This is 73 per cent in Tower Hamlets.

Last year’s Key Stage One results for seven-year-olds were lower in Oxford City Council’s boundaries than anywhere else in England while Key Stage Two results for 11-year-olds were in the bottom 10 per cent.

Stanley Road Mosque chairman Riaz Ahmed said: “In East Oxford, we see Pakistani children coming out of school without a proper education that enables them to go into higher education or into employment.

“There may still be an old attitude that if somebody is from Rose Hill, Barton or Blackbird Leys, there is tendency for them to get boxed into a category and less is expected of them.”

St Ebbe’s Primary School teacher and National Union of Teachers activist Gawain Little said: “My gut feeling is that expectations play a part and may need to be challenged.

“When I look at some disaffected children, whether from minority ethnic groups or white working class pupils, school can be somewhere they spend five hours a day but doesn’t relate to the rest of their lives. To be self critical, maybe we need to ask how much schools engage with those communities.”

Yet he feared Government funding changes could undermine achievement.

Ministers will give the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant directly to schools instead of to a dedicated Oxfordshire County Council team, which he said was more effective.

Ofsted education inspectors highlighted underpeformance of Pakistani children at SS Mary and John Primary School in East Oxford in January.

And they last year said 11-year-olds arriving at Littlemore’s Oxford Academy had “exceptionally low” English and maths grades. But the councillor responsible for school improvement, former headteacher Michael Waine, said progress was being made.

He said: “Our commitment to improving exam results in Oxford is unwavering and determined.

“Action was being taken, is being taken and will continue to be taken.”

Yet he said it was wrong to compare the county to Tower Hamlets, saying the borough got “significantly” more from the Government per pupil, £7,500 compared to £4,600, and extra resources. He believed white pupils and those with English as a first language met or bettered the borough.

TOWER HAMLETS

WHY do children from London’s most deprived neighbourhood do better at primary school than pupils in Oxford, a city built on learning?

Last year in Oxford, fewer seven-year-olds reached the expected levels of reading, writing and maths than any other area in the country.

Four of the city’s 28 primary schools are rated inadequate by Ofsted and none are deemed to be outstanding.

But in Tower Hamlets, where half the children get free school meals and 78 per cent are from ethnic minorities, results for 11-year-olds beat the England average and are eight per cent above Oxford.

From being one of the worst-performing areas in the 1990s a quarter of the 72 primary schools are now outstanding and the local authority has ‘Beacon’ status for school improvement.

Just one has been failed by Ofsted.

Oxfordshire County Council, however, says it is a reflection of the different amount of Government money given to the two areas.

Martin Tune, headteacher of Bonner School in Bethnal Green for 15 years, said: “When I became head, the community did not believe their children could achieve what others elsewhere could because of the issues they face outside school. Then a couple of schools started to buck the trend.

“We looked around and thought although our children could not hope to make the national average, a few could be doing better and we should target them. When we did that, we were surprised how quickly the kids we were targeting improved, but also at the knock-on effect on everyone else.”

Results have gone up and up. Last year, 95 per cent of Year Six children at the 420-pupil school reached the expected Level Four in English and 97 per cent in maths.

These results were matched in just one Oxford School – SS Philip and James in North Oxford.

Monica Forty, responsible for primary school improvement at Tower Hamlets Council, said every primary school was monitored to spot problems early.

She said: “I always think of secondary schools as ocean-going liners and it takes a lot to rock them, but primary schools are much more vulnerable.

“It can take the loss of a deputy head and suddenly a school is struggling.

“We need to know what is going on in every school: who is looking for a job, who is moving, so we can plan.”

Schools work closely to share ideas and teachers regularly meet workers from other agencies such as the council to discuss every child’s performance, she said.

If pupils are lagging, year groups are streamed, class sizes reduced, specialist tuition brought in and clear, monitored targets explained to individual children.

Pupils at Kobi Nazrul School, in Whitechapel, arrive with little English but 87 per cent leave having reached expected levels in English and maths.

Headteacher Wendy Hicks said: “There is no excuse for any child. Whatever their background, we have high expectations.

“You have to start in the foundation stage. We focus our attention on the bottom and work up through the school.

“If they are confident when they leave us, they will succeed, but it’s hard to catch up.”

Mr Tune added: “Parents have bought in to what we are trying to do. Their aspirations for their kids are now different to what they had for themselves.

“In lots of families, generation after generation have not been employed.

“What we are doing is to see that children have the capacity to break that mould.”