Children eligible for free school meals have fallen further behind their peers in today’s GCSE 2021 results.

Coronavirus has had an ‘uneven impact’ on disadvantaged pupils’ grades, an analysis by the exams regulator found.

Ofqual said the ‘long-standing results gap’ between students who get free meals and those who do not increased by around one tenth of a grade compared with 2019.

Separately, it found 61.2% of GCSE entries from private schools in England were awarded a grade 7 (the equivalent of an A) or above this year, up with 57.2% in 2020 and 46.6% in 2019.

The results partly confirmed predictions by the National Foundation for Educational Research in December, which said the pandemic risked erasing 10 years of social mobility gains.

‘Internet poverty’ meant thousands of children from poorer homes have had to share laptops with their siblings for online classes, with schools shut for large parts of the academic year.

They also missed out on learning because of government policy to send entire ‘bubbles’ home if one child tested positive.

As the ‘pingdemic’ reached record levels towards the end of term, more than a quarter of pupils (26.5%) in the North East missed school for Covid-related reasons on July 15, official figures show.

Youngsters were given results determined by their teachers after exams were cancelled for the second year in a row, with pupils only assessed on what they have been taught during the pandemic.

A record number achieved top grades, with a total of 28.9% of entries awarded grade 7 or above, up from 26.2% in 2020, figures for England, Wales and Northern Ireland show.

Analysis by Ofqual for results in England found that there were no notable changes in the gap between the grades received by white pupils and those received by most ethnic groups.

However, the exams regulator said that Gypsy and Roma pupils have seen a decrease in outcomes compared with 2019 – the most recent year exams went ahead – when controlling for prior attainment.

There has been a slight widening of the gap between this group and white students by nearly one fifth of a grade, according to the analysis on equalities.

It said: ‘It seems likely that many of these changes reflect the uneven impact of the pandemic and that the changes to the assessment arrangements may have lessened the unevenness in outcomes we may otherwise have seen.’

Grammar schools saw 68.4% of entries achieve a top grade this year, while in comparison, 28.1% of pupils at academies were awarded a grade 7 or higher.

It comes after educational charity The Sutton Trust raised concerns on A-level results day that the pandemic had widened the gap between independent and state schools.

Alissa Dhaliwal of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said: ‘Ensuring young people from all backgrounds can fulfil their potential in education is crucial to securing a more inclusive economy.

‘We can’t allow the pandemic to worsen existing inequalities. Employers want diverse workforces which reflect the talent they know exists in all corners of society.’

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