Commenting as the national data from this year’s SATs results are published today, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “Teachers and school leaders have worked incredibly hard throughout the pandemic to minimise the impact of disruption on pupils’ learning. It’s important to remember that the support schools have put in place has not only been focused on academic progress, but also on social and emotional recovery too. They should be congratulated on their ongoing efforts to ensure every pupil is able to achieve and thrive in school.

“We need to be very careful with the conclusions we draw from SATs data this year. The disruption caused by Covid impacted children in many different ways, with some families and school communities hit far harder than others. This means that attempts to compare SATs results between schools is a pointless endeavour. It is impossible to discern the extent to which differences in results are reflective of changes to the quality of education provided by the school or simply indicative of the degree of disruption experienced.

“What this data does seem to show at a national level is that government needs to do more to support schools with childhood and educational recovery of our nation's young people. Further analysis is needed to ascertain precisely how much the attainment gap has widened between children from poorer families and their more affluent peers. With rising costs and dwindling resources in schools, the government's decision not to invest in plans drawn up by their own 'Catch-up Tsar' may yet prove a costly decision for the life-chances of those children hit hardest by the pandemic.”