Children in coastal towns are identified as falling behind. They are mainly white-British. I quote from the DofE which 'has to address educational disparity between coastal areas and cities'. Coastal area pupils achieve 2 and a half grades lower at GCSE. I help out at my local (northern,coastal) academy as a volunteer reading tutor and I am not at all surprised by these findings. There are poor local transport routes out of this small town and the fishing industry which kept it going is almost dead. The children I help are very normal, but with immense problems to overcome - of which low aspiration is a major one. Funding is also being slashed - 4 established and hard-working T.A.s had to apply for just 1 job in April and the 2 Art and Music teachers will be put on part-time in September. Also a specialist in sorting 'difficult' children has gone since Easter with no replacement.