Ofsted ratings of secondary schools, by deprivation levels and share of pupils on free school meals

This reveals that in the most income deprived neighbourhoods (those ranked as 5 in the IDACI) outstanding schools still have a lower share of pupils on free school meals. When comparing deprived and the most deprived schools, underperforming schools take on an average of 6 per cent (at Primary) and 4 per cent (at Secondary) more disadvantaged pupils than Good or outstanding schools. In other words, when similarly income deprived communities are compared, where you would suspect the rate of pupils eligible for free school meals to be relatively similar, outstanding schools still take a below average share of disadvantaged pupils.

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