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Sir Michael Wilshaw to head up review to close gap between rich and poor pupils

A major Ofsted inquiry will look at how schools in deprived areas can stop children from falling behind their better-off peers.

Ofsted’s chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw will lead an expert panel that will examine the issues faced by communities in poor areas, with the aim of providing solutions to longstanding problems about how to support disadvantaged children.

The new review comes 20 years after Ofsted published a key report, which made recommendations for closing the attainment gap between poor children and their better-off counterparts.

It was based on information collected from visits to schools, youth and adult education providers in Bristol, Derby, Kingston-Upon-Hull, Manchester, Slough, Thamesmead and Thurrock.

In 1993, Sir David Bell, the then Ofsted chief, published a follow-up report, which surveyed 1,000 schools in deprived towns and cities, with more than 35 per cent of pupils on free school meals.

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