At the latest meeting of the Marlborough Area Poverty Action Group (MAPAG) Andrew Jack, community engagement officer for the Marlborough community area, gave a presentation on Wiltshire Council’s child poverty figures (May 9.)
These show that 10.6 per cent of all children in Wiltshire live in families where family income is at or below, 60 per cent of the national median income, which stands at £15,000. Out of all children living in the Marlborough area, seven per cent live in families with incomes at or below that level.
Compared to other areas of Wiltshire the total number of children in poverty in Marlborough is relatively low. But 230 Marlborough area children are having their lives blighted by the effects poverty is known to have on children’s life chances.
One of the well-documented consequences of poverty is low educational attainment. The Wiltshire Council figures presented to the meeting show that children living in the Marlborough area have a significantly higher gap in attainment levels than the Wiltshire average.
At Key Stage 4 (GCSE level) the attainment gap between children receiving free school meals and their peers is 62.7 per cent compared to the Wiltshire average of 31.1 per cent. Why this gap is so wide in the Marlborough area when the largest secondary school is St. John’s – a well rated academy school – is unclear. This is an area MAPAG members will be pursuing.
Other issues discussed at the meeting were progress towards building a data base of referral agencies, the possibility of organising during the summer school holidays some activity for children identified as being in need, concern about the possible loss of a venue for youth activities in Marlborough and the AGM of the Devizes food bank on May 26.