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Why our focus demographic
Why our demographic focus We currently focus on girls between the ages of 13–16 years old.
Building my confidence and meeting some inspirational women.
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In 2015, for students in Reception to Year 11, eligibility for free school meals was 28% of Black and Black Mixed Race students, 14% of White students, and 16% of Asian students.
In 2015/16, the national average for the percentage of A level students at the end of 16 to 18 study achieving 3 A grades or better at A level was 13%. 3 A grades or better at A level was achieved by 24% of Chinese students, 11% of Mixed students, 11% of White students, 11% of Other ethnic group students, 10% of Asian students and 5% of Black students.
Black Caribbean pupils were permanently excluded at 3 times the rate of White British pupils.
For the broad ethnic groups, Black and Mixed pupils were the most likely to be permanently excluded and to have a fixed term exclusion
In 2015/16, 79.8% of postgraduate entrants were White, 9.4% were Asian, 6.1% were Black, 3.1% had Mixed ethnicity and 1.6% were from the other ethnic group.
Black Caribbean students were most likely to have no sustained education or employment after finishing key stage 5 (usually 18 year olds) (11%), followed by Mixed White and Black Caribbean (11%) and Mixed White and Black African students (10%).
In 2015/16, there were 564,700 undergraduate entrants for whom ethnicity was known at UK higher education institutions: 77.1% were White, 10.3% were Asian, 7.4% were Black, 3.8% were from a Mixed ethnic background and 1.4% were from the Other ethnic group.
Even more recent data shows these trends continue and Black students continue to be left behind.
Per The Education Policy Institute’s ‘key drivers of the disadvantage gap’ Literature Review (July 2018, Whitney Crenna-Jennings):
Disadvantaged pupils tend to have less access to a broad curriculum compared to their advantaged peers. ‘There is evidence that pupils in high-deprivation schools have fewer opportunities for out-ofclassroom education.’
Educational experiences outside of the classroom benefit attainment, and skills crucial to school performance, including motivation, behaviour and self-esteem - factors that have been linked to the gap.
Schools that require parental contributions to fund these experiences restrict access to children from low-income families.
Over the last two decades, ‘careers advice and work experience have been significantly reduced in schools‘, which means ‘disadvantaged pupils are currently less likely than their better-off peers to receive careers guidance’. Because of this ‘disadvantaged young people may lack social networks with the knowledge and contacts to replace guidance offered in school’.
