Research produced by social mobility charity the Sutton Trust has highlighted that children from disadvantaged backgrounds are being overlooked during the admissions process at primary schools.
Divided
The charity’s chairman Sir Peter Lampl spoke about the need to prevent class divide in primary school admissions.
“Disadvantaged young people should have the same chance of accessing the best state school in their neighbourhood as their better-off neighbour.
“Today’s findings warn us that primary school admissions are far from a level-playing field. We need to make sure that oversubscribed schools do more to prioritise pupils from disadvantaged homes and the schools adjudicator does more to prevent parents from gaming the system.”
The Sutton Trust’s research found that 1,000 primary schools in the country admit far fewer pupils from poor or disadvantaged families than live in the school’s local area.
Results
Schools becoming more selective could be linked to the added pressure put on them by the government and Ofsted, according to the research. The Sutton Trust found a correlation between social selection, league table performance and Ofsted ratings and that those schools who were socially selective during the admissions process were more likely to do better in both measure.
School meals
To calculate how socially selective each primary school is, researchers Rebecca Allen and Meenakshi Parameshwaran compared the proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals in a school’s intake with the school’s recruitment neighbourhood.
The majority of primary schools showed only minor variations between local residents and school population, however in more than 1,000 schools there was a gap of 10% points or more, which meant that disadvantaged families were going further afield to find a school place.
A spokesperson for the Department for Education told the Guardian that admissions on the basis of wealth was “both morally wrong and against the law”.
“All schools must follow the school admissions code, which should make sure school places are allocated fairly, with an admissions policy that does not unfairly disadvantage children from a particular social or racial group, or those with a disability or special educational needs,” she said.
The research piece can be found on the Sutton Trust’s website: http://www.suttontrust.com/newsarchive/primary-selection/
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