Poorer children in Kent end up nearly two years behind their peers by the time they complete their GCSEs, a shock report has found.

Kent is among the worst areas for what is termed as the attainment gap, which measures how youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds compare with their peers on the basis of exam results.

The county is among the poorest performing areas, with a gap of 23.3 months when it comes to their GCSEs.

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The data prompted one of the county's head teachers to say there is an issue around the level of aspiration in some communities.

Paul Luxmoore, the executive head of the Coastal Academies Trust in east Kent, said: "Judging schools by disadvantage, when disadvantage is measured by income is, and always has been, hugely misleading."

He identified a school in London - Westminster Academy - which had high levels of disadvantaged pupils but did far better than others on its Progress 8 score - a measure used to chart pupils' performance.

“Meet the students and you’ll understand why - they are mostly from migrant families and they have huge aspirations - that’s why they are migrants," he said.

"Contrast these students with the white workless classes of Blackpool or Thanet and you’ll begin to understand why the attainment gap is so huge.

"There is no measure for 'aspiration' and that is what many of the white workless class lack - and often for good reason."

The data, published by the Education Policy Institute, also shows the gap in Kent widens between primary school and secondary school, with the former seeing a gap of 9.5 months which widens by the time GCSEs are taken.

The statistics have drawn a warning that efforts to improve social mobility are stalling.

David Laws, executive chairman of the Education Policy Institute, said: "We are now witnessing a major setback for social mobility in our country.

"Recent progress on narrowing the education gap between poor children and the rest has ground to a halt.

"Educational inequality on this scale is bad for both social mobility and economic productivity.

"This report should be a wake up call for our new Prime Minister.

"We need a renewed policy drive to narrow the disadvantage gap - and this needs to be based on evidence of what makes an impact, rather than on political ideology or guesswork."

Peter Read, a former Kent secondary school head teacher and now a consultant, said: “The gap is always going to exist... the idea that it would take 500 years [to close the gap] is fantasy land."

Kent is among those areas where the gap in attainment exceeds the national average of 18.1 months.

In Medway, the gap at secondary level is marginally better than Kent at 20.3 months but also above the national average.

The report says nationally, progress in closing the GCSE attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has come to a standstill.

By the time they leave secondary school, disadvantaged pupils are now over 18.1 months behind non-disadvantaged pupils.

For the first time since 2011, progress in closing the GCSE attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has come to a standstill.

"Recent progress on narrowing the education gap between poor children and the rest has ground to a halt" - David Laws

Despite no progress in narrowing the disadvantage gap, overall pupil attainment has continued to rise.

This suggests an overall rise in standards does not guarantee a reduction in the disadvantage gap.

This would appear to be the case in Kent, where - according to the county council - overall 92.5% of schools in Kent are now rated good or outstanding compared to 85% nationally.

This includes 21% of schools judged to be outstanding and 71.5% judged to be good.

Matt Dunkley, director of children's services, said: "This report is focussing solely upon Key Stage 4; in Early Years in Kent the gap is significantly below National (3.7 in comparison to 4.5) and at primary it is broadly in line with national (9.5 in comparison to 9.2).

"At KS4 the gap has narrowed from 25.4 in 2017 to 23.3 in 2018 - so unlike the national trend of a widening gap at KS4, the gap for Kent schools has narrowed by 2.1 months.

"We are conscious that this gap remains wider than national and are acting to address it as a priority.

"The KCC School Improvement Strategy for 2018-19, and draft for 2019-20, have reducing this gap at their heart, and the successful measures that have had impact in 2017-18 have been extended, although it is also worthwhile noting that our influence is somewhat limited by greater academisation in the secondary sector."

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