IT HAS long been established children from poorer backgrounds do not do as well as their more affluent classmates.
Now, a new report has revealed it is poor white children who are consistently the lowest performing group, much worse than disadvantaged black or Asian children.
The Government's Education Select Committee, chaired by Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart, has been examining the underachievement of poor white children in England and looking at ways to turn the tide on poor results.
The report – Underachievement In Education By White Working Class Children – identifies it as a "real and persistent" problem.
It identifies ways this could be addressed including longer school days and placing the best teachers in schools with a large proportion of deprived pupils.
The report says the pupil premium, which targets funds at poorer pupils, is likely to help.
In east Hull, Archbishop Sentamu Academy has the highest proportion of disadvantaged children, of any race, than in any other Yorkshire school.
With a largely white pupil cohort, it can claim to buck the trend identified in the select committee report.
With GCSE results for all pupils above the national average, it also consistently posts results for disadvantaged children higher than the national average.
Its principal Andrew Chubb says use of the pupil premium in his school, where about 60 per cent are classed as deprived, is showing real results.
The pupil premium was brought in by the Government and gives funds to pupils on free school meals.
Schools get about £930 per pupil.
At Archbishop Sentamu, those funds are used to make sure disadvantaged children are supported both pastorally and educationally.
Last year, 48 per cent of pupils classed as deprived in the Preston Road school got five A* to C grades compared to 38 per cent nationally.
Mr Chubb said: "We have put in place bread and butter things. We have two attendance officers who make sure attendance is strong and we have five liaison officers who make sure our students can always be supported pastorally, should the need arise.
"These are non-teaching staff and are people who students can talk to and share problems with.
"We also have a number of staff we employ to give specific help in English and maths to make classes smaller and allow individual teachers to get quickly to a pupil who may have a problem in these subjects."
Mr Chubb says the money is proving useful in narrowing the gap between those pupils from deprived areas who typically perform less well then their more affluent classmates.
He said staff pride themselves on the fact children on free school meals perform significantly better than those nationally.
"We have to remember the effect deprivation has on these children and nurture them and get them extra tuition," he said.
"At a class level, all teachers are aware who is on the pupil premium and checking they are making progress.
"I am thrilled when these things work, truly thrilled.
"Life is particularly challenging in this area and we get out of bed every day and try to give these young people the best possible start in life.
"I am immensely grateful when the amount of work everyone puts in pays off and young people do as well as they have done here.
"Part of the evidence we have is not just what young people achieve at 16, but also at 18. Last year, everyone here got into their university of choice.
"From the whole academy, last year at 16, we had just three who classed as Neet (Not in Employment, Education or Training). In 2008, that figure was about 14 per cent.
"Education is really simple, you get the children to come to school, get them to behave and engage. Everything we do is about getting them in and getting them to enjoy lessons, teaching them well and helping them get through exams. And the glue that holds all that together is the pastoral care."
Mr Chubb, a fierce protector of the area in which his school sits, says the pupils are a delight to teach.
"I am really pleased for east Hull. It gets a bad press and I am genuinely pleased this area has a great school it can send its children to," he said.
"The young people here are genuinely delightful. I can't put it any other way. It makes me truly angry that this area is stereotyped.
"When the young people are with us, you can't want a nicer group of people.
"Why should they be labelled as anything other than that. We want to redress that label of this area and hope it can be re-labelled as having young people who are a credit to it."
'The best resource possible is extra staff'ANOTHER Hull school proving that deprivation is no barrier to success is St Andrew's Primary School.
The school in Grandale, Sutton Park, has just won a national pupil premium award, recognising it is using the extra Government money to the best it can to keep standards high.
Graham Huckstep, pictured, headteacher at the school, said: "We were invited to apply because our standards are high and showing progress in all ability groups.
"I'm a firm believer that you shouldn't waste money on what I call the 'Christmas present syndrome' by spending lots of money on resources the kids will only use for a while. We put most of our extra money into staff as I believe the best resource possible is extra staff."
The school gets around £70,000 a year in pupil premium money for its deprived children.
Mr Huckstep says using the money on staff means teaching groups at the school are extremely low.
He said: "We have quality teachers but our support staff are also quality."
With support staff in the classroom, the ration of staff to children at the school is 1-12, often lower.
The school won the award from 200 other entries and will collect it at an event in Trafalgar Square on Wednesday.
