Manchester's disadvantaged children facing biggest learning gap 'in decades' amid lockdown
reopening of primary schools this week, eight million pupils are currently out of school and could be until September.And as well as the disadvantaged children and those who have become newly disadvantaged during lockdown, 'the scale of other children that will be not reaching their potential because of this time out of education, is also immense'.She stressed that the government needs to ensure that 'persistently disadvantaged children are not only known and seen but get the support they need'.Natalie Perera, executive director of EPI, said one 'quick and practical' step schools can take is to identify the children who have consistently qualified for free school meals throughout their education."Schools will know which pupils are eligible