Differences in educational achievement connected with ethnicity, gender and economic status widen rather than level out once children start school, according to a study of more than 5,000 pupils.

The research, carried out in 55 primary schools in an Inner London education authority, took baseline assessment scores at age four and set them against national test results at seven. They were then analysed according to socio-economic grouping, ethnicity and sex and also school by school.

The research shows that a good primary school will be good for every group within it, although white British children who do not receive free school meals benefit more than all other groups. Indian, Bangladeshi and Chinese pupils, who generally start with lower baseline attainment than their indigenous white peers, catch up by the end of the infant phase.

However, white British children entitled to free school meals start school with lower baseline measurements than their peers and fall even further behind as they go through key stage 1. Most worryingly, African-Caribbean boys who start off with high baseline scores fall far behind the white British children in all three subjects tested at seven, with African-Caribbean girls achieving relatively higher marks than the boys.

Economic background, says the researcher, is a crucial factor in children’s school performance. This has to be looked at alongside other factors to get an accurate picture of why some children do better than others.

Ethnic Group, Sex and Economic Disadvantage: associations with pupils’

educational progress from baseline to the end of Key Stage 1 by Steve Strand, NFER-Nelson, Darville House, 2 Oxford Road East, Windsor, Berks SL4 1DF.E-mail: steve.strand@nfer-nelson.co.uk