8 Oct 2013 In his Conference speech last week, Michael Gove set out clearly the moral purpose of policy: not only to raise standards for all, but just as important, to narrow the yawning achievement gap between rich and poor. He described the Conservative mission to ensure “that every child has the opportunity to flourish”. Though progress has already been made, in 2012 there was a 26 percentage points gap at GCSE (5+C+ including English & Maths) between kids on free school meals and their more affluent peers. But addressing this gap with teenagers is way too late. The performance gap appears very early and widens through the school years. In Seven Key Truths about Social Mobility , the all-party social mobility group identified that the point of greatest leverage to equalise opportunity is the very earliest years. Of course kids from all backgrounds go on to do brilliant things. But overall and on average, the correlations have a smooth predictability to them. The better of