In addition, five of these large schools (more than 230 students) had at least 32 per cent or more of their students in this category.

The recently released data on the My School website assessed the number of students who fall into the lowest 25 per cent nationally in terms of socio-educational advantage.

Topping the list for Bathurst, with the highest percentage of students in the lowest quartile, was Kelso Public School with 75 per cent of its total student population. While the school only increased one per cent compared with 2013, it was a significant increase compared with 41 per cent in 2012.

Comparing increases from 2013 to 2014 figures, Raglan Public jumped from 32 per cent to 40 per cent, Bathurst Public from 30 per cent to 33 per cent and Bathurst High from 39 per cent to 41 per cent.

Bathurst West and Assumption School rounded out the other schools that had an increase in the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

A number of schools recorded a decrease from 2013 to 2014, with the biggest drop recorded by Bathurst South – from 37 per cent to 32 per cent.

Other schools to record a drop included All Saints’, Scots, MacKillop, Eglinton, St Philomena’s and Holy Family.

Three schools – St Stanislaus’, Cathedral and Kelso High – remained the same as in 2013.

A students’ family background (parents’ occupation, school education and non-school education) and school-level factors (a school’s geographical location and the proportion of indigenous students a school caters for) are assessed for each child in the Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA).

These factors are believed to have an influence on students’ educational outcome at school.