Closing the attainment gap has become one of the major challenges in education.

It's nothing new, of course; indeed, the underachievement of disadvantaged pupils has remained a stubborn problem that has dogged schools (and governments) for decades.

White working class boys remain the great underachievers - and while some progress has been made, it has been too slow and too sporadic to be truly hailed as a great success. Recent analysis from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) paints a fairly bleak picture of the years ahead, predicting that the gap between the number of disadvantaged pupils and all other pupils who achieve good GCSE passes in English and Maths will reduce only slightly - from 24 to 21.5 percentage points - over the next 5 years.

The report predicts that there will be no change in the gap for Attainment 8.

Worryingly, the gap for Progress 8 is set to increase slightly. Is there a simple solution to the attainment gap? Well, no, it will come as no surprise to hear that is no simple, straightforward silver bullet of an answer that will help schools reduce the attainment gap considerably.

There are a variety of factors that can harm or hinder disadvantaged pupils' chances of realising their potential at school.

These can be complex and complicated - and the reason why any initiative that has gone before (Pupil Premium, for example) has had only limited success in the past at closing the gap. But, what is clear, is that the best way to close the attainment gap (although it won't do it on its own) is undeniable. What is it? Reading.

Pure and simple. Reading, reading and more reading Disadvantaged pupils often bring many issues with them to school.

It means schools really do have their work cut out.

The attainment gap widens at every key stage and in the age of budget cuts utilising the various skillsets and professional expertise needed to support disadvantaged children is more of a challenge now than ever before. But the single biggest factor that will give disadvantaged students a head start (or at least a fighting chance of catching up) is if they have already developed a love of reading before they start school. Foster a love of reading at home and elsewhere To develop a love of reading children need to be surrounded by books.

They need to have books in the home - but books should also be a fixture of cafes, play centres and shopping centres. Primary schools need to do more to get parents (and grandparents) into school, long before their children start school.

Reading breeds confidence in children, but we also need to build the confidence of parents too.

Trying to encourage parents to make reading a part of daily life in the home is vital. Schools need to be proactive and innovative in the way they promote reading.

Of course, young people today will naturally become transfixed with digital devices - and children do need to be digitally literate - but they can still love reading. But this only happens if children see books everywhere they turn.