Teach First

When you welcome a Teach First trainee into your school, you get more than a vacancy filled. You bring in someone dedicated and driven to help children facing disadvantage get the opportunities they deserve.

We’ve got talented trainees ready to join your school this term.

Partner with us and together let’s rewrite the future for the pupils who need it most: https://ow.ly/X2Lu50ZIchi

The data on post-16 destinations is stark, particularly for pupils facing persistent disadvantage. 🚨

Across the country, persistently disadvantaged pupils are almost three times more likely to disappear from post-16 education or training than their non-disadvantaged peers.

Derby Moor Spencer Academy is proving poor outcomes are not inevitable, with a higher percentage of their pupils securing further education or training, than the local average.

By collaborating with employers including Microsoft, DHL, Rolls-Royce, Alstom and Cooper Parry, the school helps pupils develop the skills, confidence and workplace habits needed to succeed. 🤝

We’re campaigning for persistent disadvantage and its effects to be recognised in education policy, to improve life chances and close the destinations gap.

Find out more and get involved: https://www.teachfirst.org.uk/rewrite-the-future

This GCSE results day, thousands of young people will receive the grades they've worked hard for. Behind every set of results is a journey that began years earlier.

The children starting school this September will spend years learning, growing and preparing for their futures.

In just over a decade, in 2040, they'll sit their own GCSEs.

But for pupils facing persistent disadvantage, not passing their maths and English GCSEs is the norm. This limits their future choices, including fewer post-16 options, poorer employment prospects and lower lifetime earnings.

Unless we act now.

We're campaigning to ensure persistent disadvantage and its effects are recognised and addressed within education policy.

The choices we make today will help shape the opportunities they have tomorrow.

Visit our campaign page to learn more and get involved: https://ow.ly/XqJW50ZAMFs

Around 2 in 5 children live in poverty in the London borough of Lambeth, over double the national average. 1 in 5 face long-term poverty, also known as persistent disadvantage.

For pupils facing persistent disadvantage, not passing their GCSE English and maths is the norm.

But at Oasis Academy South Bank, these pupils are outperforming national averages, even compared to non-disadvantaged pupils.

Headteacher Anna said: “We work relentlessly to remove barriers, and our staff work extremely hard to ensure that all pupils have the opportunity to fulfil their potential.”

Schools like Oasis Academy South Bank are bucking the trend. But they are in the minority.

Without proper acknowledgement and targeted intervention, outcomes are unlikely to change for this group of pupils.

We're campaigning to ensure persistent disadvantage and its effects are recognised within education policy.


Find out more and get involved to help rewrite the future: https://ow.ly/rkFA50ZwSO1

1 in 3 children in Sheffield live in poverty, creating barriers that can limit opportunities and outcomes.

Yet in 2025 Mercia School in Sheffield was in the top 2% for pupil attainment in England.

The pupils at Mercia who face persistent disadvantage, meaning they spend most of their school life on free school meals, outperform the national average for non-disadvantaged pupils in GCSE English and Maths.

Headteacher Joshua Fisher shares that: “We have a strong culture, prioritising high expectations, both academia and behaviour. All pupils study an ambitious curriculum and access a wide range of enrichment activities that help them to develop their talents and interests.”

Across the country, in communities like this, educational outcomes for pupils in long term poverty (also known as ‘persistently disadvantaged’) are some of the lowest.

Schools like Mercia are bucking the trend. But they are in the minority.

We’re campaigning for persistent disadvantage and its effects to be recognised in education policy.

Find out more and get involved: https://www.teachfirst.org.uk/rewrite-the-future

Too many young people are being left behind before they even get the chance to shape their future.

Our new research reveals that 1 in 4 persistently disadvantaged pupils are not in education or training one year after finishing Year 11. This means they are not working towards a qualification equivalent to a GCSE or above.

These are pupils who have faced some of the deepest and longest experiences of poverty, and the barriers they face do not end when they leave school.

Every young person deserves the opportunity to thrive, no matter their background.

That’s why we’re working to close the attainment gap for persistently disadvantaged pupils by 2040.

Find out more about the campaign and how you can get involved: https://www.teachfirst.org.uk/rewrite-the-future

For pupils living in long-term poverty, also known as persistent disadvantage, it is often the norm to not pass their maths and English GCSEs.

This can lead to poorer employment prospects. Lower lifetime earnings. Even their health can be impacted. They’re stuck in a cycle of poverty.

Our research found 88 state-funded schools who are bucking the trend, with pupils facing persistent disadvantage outperforming the national average for non-disadvantaged pupils in GCSE English and Maths.

But they are still the minority.

The gap is a measure of a system that needs change.

Visit our campaign page to learn more and get involved: https://www.teachfirst.org.uk/rewrite-the-future