Some comprehensive schools are more “socially selective” than grammar schools, according to new research which has called on the government to review the admissions code in England to improve access for poorer pupils.
While grammars are inherently selective, as admission is based on passing an 11-plus examination, comprehensive secondary schools admit local children, regardless of academic ability or social background, based on a school’s admissions policy.
However, research by the Sutton Trust, a charity that specialises in social mobility through education, has identified more than 150 state-maintained comprehensives that it says are more socially selective than the average grammar school.
The trust’s Selective Comprehensives 2024 report found disadvantaged students – as measured by their eligibility for free school meals (FSM) – are less likely to get into a top performing comprehensive than their peers, even if there is one in their local area.
Its research covers a three-year time period – 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22. The situation has not improved since 2016 and there are some indications that it has got worse, the report says.
The study looked at the top 500 comprehensives schools in England, ranked by both pupil progress (known as the Progress 8 score) and GCSE exam results (the attainment 8 measure).
While the intake of the average comprehensive included 22% of students eligible for FSM, for the top 500 schools ranked by progress this was just 17.1%. Ranked by exam grades, it was even lower at just 13.3%.
The research also found the FSM intake rate in comprehensives with the best progress score was 4.3 percentage points lower than the overall FSM rate in the catchment area. And in schools with the highest attainment, it was 5.8 percentage points lower.
Grammar schools, meanwhile, accepted on average 9.2 percentage points fewer FSM pupils than lived in the areas they drew pupils from, though the Sutton Trust identified 155 comprehensives with gaps of 9.2 percentage points or higher, making them “less representative of their catchment areas than the average grammar school”.
Levels of social selection vary widely across the country, the research found. The north east has the most socially selective top comprehensives in the country – it also has the highest proportion of FSM pupils, overtaking London in recent years, where the highest attaining schools were the least selective.
The report also found that religious schools are “the most socially exclusive”. All but one of the top 20 most socially selective schools are faith schools, the Sutton Trust said, and Catholic schools are “the least representative of their catchments among top performing schools”.
“This report finds little evidence to suggest that comprehensive schools are becoming less socially selective, strong evidence that things have not improved since 2017 and some clear evidence pointing to increasing levels of social selection in comprehensive admissions in some parts of the system,” it concluded.
One factor may be the continuing transition from local authority maintained schools to academies, which control their own admissions.
Sutton Trust founder Sir Peter Lampl said: “The levels of social segregation across the school system are unacceptable.
“The government should review the school admissions code to ensure all state schools take a mix of pupils which reflects their local community, and provide disadvantaged pupils with a fair chance to access top performing schools.
“Alongside this, extra funding and resources, particularly targeted at the most deprived areas, will help to raise the quality of education where it’s most needed.”
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said fairer access was not just about admissions practices.
“It is also about ensuring that all schools have the support and resources they need to provide a high-quality education wherever they are and whatever their context,” he said.
Paul Barber, Catholic Education Service director, said: “Catholic schools take in 50% more pupils from the most deprived backgrounds than the state sector. Just under a fifth of all pupils in Catholic statutory education meet the highest income deprivation affecting children index (IDACI) criteria, compared to a 12.8% England average. Similarly, fewer pupils from the more affluent areas attend Catholic schools”.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The school admissions code requires admission arrangements to be fair, clear and objective, and no child should be unfairly disadvantaged.
“Admission authorities can choose to prioritise children eligible for the pupil premium when they are over their published admission number according to the need of their local area.”
