Pupils in three East Lancashire towns have worse educational attainment on average than their peers in other parts of the county, new analysis suggests.

It comes as the same study reveals pupils in small towns in England have better educational attainment on average than their peers in larger towns and cities.

Pupils living in Burnley (large town), Nelson (medium town) and Bacup (small town) all appear in the bottom 50 when it comes to educational attainment, with pupils in the west of the county performing better, despite the study suggesting smaller towns have higher scores than bigger areas. 

The analysis, which looks at the educational attainment of pupils who sat their GCSEs in the 2012 to 2013 school year, said differences in incomes are part of the reason why young people in smaller towns secured better outcomes.

Smaller towns in England have a higher average attainment score partly because a larger share of these towns have low levels of income deprivation, the research suggested, however Bacup and Nelson appear to buck the trend.

The ONS used a score that summarises the educational attainment of young people at different points throughout their education to compare towns.

A score of 0 was the average score of all areas, while negative scores reflected poorer than average performance and positive scores reflected better than average attainment.

The scores are shown here in brackets.

Euxton near Chorley (6.9) is in the top 50 for small towns whereas Bacup (-5.9) in bottom 50 for small towns.

Fulwood in Preston (4.9), Bamber Bridge (3.4), Ormskirk (6.2), and Lytham (4.3) are all in the top 50 for medium towns whereas Nelson (-4.9) is in the bottom 50.

Blackburn (0.3) is only just in the top 50 for large towns whereas Blackpool (-2.1), Preston (-2.2) and Burnley (-4.7) appear in the bottom 50.

The ONS analysis, which uses Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) data collected by the Department for Education (DfE), concluded that small towns had an average score of 0.4 and large towns had an average score of -0.9.

While smaller towns had a better average score, they also saw the widest range in scores, the research found.

Among the top 10 per cent of towns in England with the highest educational attainment scores, none had high levels of income deprivation, the ONS said.

The ONS looked at the cohort of students who sat their GCSEs in the 2012 to 2013 school year as “they are the most recent pupils for whom data exists on their progress after school, up to age 22 years”.

Richard Prothero, the lead statistician for the ONS analysis, said: “It’s the first time ONS has looked at young people’s educational attainment by the size of town in which they went to school.

“Those in smaller towns generally did better than those in larger towns, while those in cities, other than London and Brighton and Hove, typically had lower attainment than those in towns.

“One reason for this may be the link between levels of deprivation and educational attainment as there tends to be more deprivation in larger towns and cities than in small towns.”

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “This analysis demonstrates how closely aligned educational outcomes are to levels of deprivation.

“Raising attainment is therefore dependent not only on ensuring that schools in areas of high deprivation are well supported and resourced, but also on wider efforts to tackle poverty and improve local economies.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We are determined to improve the quality of education for all children wherever they live, and we have driven up standards for pupils since the cohort in this study sat their GCSEs in the 2012/13 academic school year.

“We have identified 55 Education Investment Areas with the weakest educational outcomes where we are making additional investment to boost improvements, including £86 million to support academy trusts to develop their capacity to take on underperforming schools.

“We also support the most disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils through pupil premium funding, which is increasing to more than £2.9 billion in 2023/24 – the highest cash terms rate since this funding began.”