This week, as is usual for this time of year, social media was flooded with pictures of children on their first day of school.
Snapped by their proud parents, they wore their new uniforms and bright smiles.
But when it comes to the state of our education system I really wonder how much there is to smile about.
As millions of children returned to the classroom, a newly released report has revealed that we have had the biggest SATs results gap since 2012.
Driven by Covid, the research shows the widest gulf between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged primary schoolchildren for a decade.
Figures published by the Department for Education make for worrying reading.
SATs are tests of literacy and numeracy taken by children in Year 6, the last year of primary school.
The percentage of schoolchildren aged 10 and 11 who reached the expected standard was 59%, nationally down from 65% in 2019, the last time the tests were taken.
Only 43% of disadvantaged children – those on free school meals or in care – met the attainment target. This compares to 65% of non-disadvantaged children. I’m a massive believer in the power of education. It transforms young people’s lives, it transformed mine, and they should be given every chance to fulfil their potential.
I predicted, although I didn’t need a crystal ball, that children, especially the disadvantaged ones, would be one of the groups impacted the most.
While private schools quickly shifted classrooms online, the picture in the state system was often very different. The provision was patchy, and even when work was sent via a portal, parents, me included, struggled to juggle working from home and making sure our kids kept up.
Many families had limited access to laptops and wi-fi, while many more faced challenges with getting food to eat. Fewer things highlighted the difference between the haves and have-nots than the impact of education during Covid.
The revolving door at the Department for Education is dizzying. We’re now on the fifth Education Secretary in the past year alone.
It’s time for education to stop being an afterthought and to get the priority and the funding it needs to help every child succeed. If not, the country will pay for this for years to come.
