Disadvantaged pupils are defined as those who qualify for free schools meals.

Scott Halligan, Head of Education at the Christian charity Transforming Lives for Good told Premier: “That shouldn’t be the case, some of the most recent research says it’s over a third [of a grade difference] worse per subject…that’s a drastic difference.”

He said “It’s a huge gap you’ve got to plug.”

“Tragically the gap seems to be much smaller in primary schools…so it’s something that gets exacerbated in the secondary school years.”

Speaking of what might cause the gap in grades, he said: “There’s all sorts of factors really…not least of all budget cuts, meaning that schools have particularly low staffing ratios. So it’s not unusual to see 30-34 students in a class” and therefore pupils who need more help may not get it.

Scott Halligan criticised the view that blames the difference on pupils living in varyingly welathy areas of the country.

He argued: “Research suggests that if you take out the different school factors and you compare the achievements of children in the same school it would be as small as 0.02 per cent of the difference, so it’s clearly not a geographical thing, it’s a wide-spread issue across the board.”

He advised Christian teachers to be: “Recognising that every young person is made in God’s image and that we want all young people to have opportunities and to be…

A consultation aimed at cutting the number of plastic items which end up polluting rivers and oceans will start later this year.

Deborah Tomkins from Green Christian told Premier why Christians should pay attention to the debate.

“If we, as Christians who have the full revelation of God in Jesus, can’t take a lead in protecting our planet, which has been described as God’s love letter to humanity…, then we’re not doing a very good job.”

Cotton buds are often flushed down the lavatory and are one of the most serious sources of marine pollution.

They are small enough to be eaten by both birds and marine life.

Meanwhile, more than 60 of the UK’s biggest music festivals have pledged to ban the use of plastic straws at their events this summer.

The group of independent festivals, including the likes of Bestival, Boomtown Fair and Shambala, have also committed to eliminate all single-use plastic by 2021.

The Prime Minister said plastic waste was “one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the world” and the UK was taking a lead in tackling the problem.

Prime Minister Theresa May and Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland greets Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the official welcome ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government

Theresa may May urged Commonwealth leaders gathered…

New research has found the US President, who recently denied a claim he cheated on his wife Melania with Stormy Daniels in 2006, is more popular among white evangelicals than ever before.

The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) the per cent holding a “favourable view” of the 71-year-old has risen to 75 per cent – while 22 per cent hold an “unfavourable view”.

Summing up its conclusions, the PRRI said: “White evangelical support for Donald Trump has steadily increased over time.”

The independent research organisation found white evangelical men (81 per cent) were more likely than their female counterparts to favour Trump (71 per cent).

It continued: “Notably, Trump’s favourability among white evangelicals never reached 50 per cent during the 2016 primary season.

“By the early fall of 2016, however, his favourability among white evangelicals had jumped to 61 per cent.

“By the inauguration it increased to 68 per cent, and shortly after the inauguration in February 2017 it jumped again to 74 per cent.

“Over the course of 2017, there were minor fluctuations, but Trump’s favourability among white evangelicals never dipped below 65 per cent during this time.”

The PRRI figures also show that the proportion of all Americans supporting Trump has risen since January from 37 per cent to 42 per cent.

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The Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement would like ministers to put greater emphasis on a need for “shared values of British citizenship”, especially in faith schools.

The Committee says that the government has associated promoting British values with the Prevent strategy – which aims to prevent radicalisation and terrorism – when these values: “should be taught as important in their own right, not simply as part of a counter-terrorism policy.”

The values peers want to promote are “democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and respect for the inherent worth and autonomy of every person.”

Chairman of the Committee, Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, said: “There are British values which we all need to accept, share and defend. Equality before the law is one cornerstone.”

“These are the red lines which govern acceptable behaviour in modern Britain.”

Lord Hodgson added: “Our values have been insufficiently promoted across all Government departments and appear not to be upheld in some communities.

“Government action has made these values needlessly toxic by linking them to counter-extremism rather than arguing for them in their own right.”

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Her personal pastor and long-time friend, Russell J. Levenson Jr. told The Houston Chronicle the champion of literacy spent the final hours of her life surrounded by family and lifted up by prayer.

Levenson said he was asked by Neil Bush – one of Mrs Bush’s six children – to offer a few words before he knelt with the family members, who held hands and recited the traditional Episcopal “prayers at the time of dying”.

He added that it was a “beautiful, peaceful, gentle death”.

Mrs Bush’s husband and former President George H.W. Bush asked Levenson to pray one more time with the couple when she died in their west Houston home.

The two went to her bedside and “gave thanks again for her remarkable life.”

Levenson, who is the senior pastor and rector of St Martin’s Episcopal Church, said he reminded Mr Bush that “she is more alive than she has ever been.”

The pastor said in the last few days of Mrs Bush’s life she talked about reuniting with those she had lost, including her parents and daughter who died when she was only three-years-old.

More than 1,500 people, including first lady Melania Trump, are due to attend Mrs Bush’s funeral at St Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston on Saturday morning.

She will be buried at the family plot by her husband’s library in College Station.

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