Suffolk County Council report shows early education improvements in Suffolk but attainment gap widens for older pupils

Early years education has improved in Suffolk but the attainment gap has widened for older pupils, figures have shown.

County councillors met on Tuesday for a scrutiny session aimed at discussing attainment figures for pupils across the county as well as the work being done to address challenges.

The report showed attainment for children in Early Years, up to five-years-old, and in Key Stage 1, between the ages of five and seven, had improved between 2022 and 2024, now matching the national average at 68 and 80 per cent respectively.

Similarly, figures for Key Stage 2, which includes children aged seven to 11, showed a general increase, except in maths, which saw a slight decline — despite the overall improvement, KS2 attainment remains under the national average.

Julia Grainger, assistant director of education, skills and learning, warned positive improvements still included a range of results, meaning certain pockets of Suffolk needed specific attention to drive attainment up.

"Our mission, our vision," she said, "is that we are working with school leaders so that every Suffolk child achieves the very best they can achieve."

At Key Stage 4, last year's attainment figures for children aged 14 to 16 showed a decline across all metrics, following the national trend.

Although the council has the responsibility to ensure access to education and high standards, it does not control academy schools, which make up the vast majority of schools in Suffolk and answer directly to the Department for Education.

In total, there are 88 maintained schools, controlled by the council, and 236 academies, delivering for more than 100,000 children across the county.

According to the report, attainment within maintained schools alone is above the national picture for Early Years and mostly in line or above average for KS2.

Cllr Andrew Reid, the council's lead for education, stressed 'every child is a Suffolk child' regardless of their education venue, with the authority committed to driving figures up.

He said attainment results were being driven, in part, by the lack of money Suffolk schools were getting from the Government, an issue he included in a recent letter to the Secretary of State.

Based on funding for the current financial year, the county ranks 113th out of 151 for funding per pupil, meaning if it received the same amount of money as Norfolk, it would get the equivalent of an additional £14.44 million.

A key recurring theme during the discussion was the need to continue and expand partnership and collaboration across different settings, including the Suffolk Education Partnership (SEP), a shared commitment for maintained schools and academies to work together to remove barriers to education.

Other partnerships include the Suffolk Learning Improvement Network (SLIN), as well as a range of locality-based groups facilitating work for schools with shared characteristics.