Achievement and entitlement to free school meals: 2018

Main points

• The performance of pupils eligible for free school meals at Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 has generally improved in each year over the last 10 years for all indicators.
• However, their performance is lower than their non eligible counterparts at all key stages and indicators.
• The gap in performance has generally narrowed over the last 10 years at both Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3.
• In 2018 the gap in performance for the Foundation Phase indicator was 18.2 percentage points.
• In 2018 the gap in performance for the Core Subject Indicator was 14.2 percentage points at Key Stage 2 and 19.5 percentage points at Key Stage 3.
• There is a strong link between achievement and the level of entitlement to free school meals in schools: as the level of free school meals entitlement increases, the level of achievement decreases.