Grammar schools announce plan to give priority to disadvantaged pupils
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Version 0 of 1. Grammar schools in England are looking to break the middle-class stranglehold on selective state education by offering to rewrite their admissions codes to discriminate in favour of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. More than half of England's 164 existing grammar schools – the survivors of England's comprehensive school reforms in the 1960s and 1970s – say they plan to revise their admissions criteria to give priority to qualifying children who are eligible for free school meals (FSM) or the pupil premium. The move follows a chorus of complaints that grammar schools favour the better off due to their reliance on entrance examinations such as the eleven-plus to select pupils. The Sutton Trust has published research showing that just 2.7% of grammar schools' places went to pupils eligible for FSM, compared with around 20% in state schools nationally. The prestigious King Edward VI grammar schools in Birmingham are among the first group of 30 schools that have applied to the Department for Education to amend their code, according to the TES, which first reported the news. The King Edward VI group hopes to recruit 20% of its cohort from FSM-eligible applicants. A further 58 schools are drawing up plans to do the same, according to the Grammar Schools Heads Association, including most grammar schools and Buckinghamshire and some in Kent, the two counties which retained significant numbers. If approved by the DfE, the change would allow the grammar schools to use FSM or pupil premium status as a "tie-breaker" to decide among applicants with similar exam scores. "The aim isn't to change the standards but to look at ways of being able to support able pupils on FSM who are within the normal ability range of grammar schools to be able to access a place," said Barry Sindall, chief executive of the Grammar Schools Heads Association. However some grammar schools, including Rugby High School in Warwickshire, are going even further by reserving a fixed number of places for FSM-eligible children, so potentially accepting pupils with lower entrance exam scores than other applicants. Sindall said grammar schools had been working on the issue for more than a year and a half. "We've been looking for some time for various ways we can improve access and encourage more able, disadvantaged children to apply to grammar schools. This is part of that process," Sindall said. The remaining grammar schools may not need to amend their admissions policies, Sindall said: "Our action plan covers a whole range of issues, adopting more coaching-resistant testing and so on, so different schools in different contexts will work in different ways." Free school meals and the pupil premium – a cash grant directly to schools – are available to pupils from households earning around £16,000 annually. The Sutton Trust, which has campaigned for grammar schools to do more for children from low income and disadvantaged areas, said it was working with grammar school heads on tackling the issue. "We welcome this announcement as an important step forward and hope it will help with some of the access issues we identified last year. However, admissions policies are just one part of the equation," said James Turner, the trust's director of programmes. "It is vital that the tests are as unbiased as possible. Schools should also reach out to a wider group of schools and pupils if the link between income and access to grammar schools is to be narrowed." State grammar schools are recognised to have high levels of achievement in national tests such as GCSEs, and have an enviable record in placing students in prestigious universities. In the last year grammar schools have come under attack by politicians and scathing comments from Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of Ofsted. In a recent interview Wilshaw said: "Grammar schools are stuffed full of middle-class kids. A tiny percentage are on free school meals: 3%. That is a nonsense. Anyone who thinks grammar schools are going to increase social mobility needs to look at those figures. I don't think they work." The National Association of Head Teachers is to debate a motion at its annual conference this weekend calling for pupils on FSM to be given preference in admissions decisions to all state schools. The admissions code in England already allows free schools and academies to use FSM status in making decisions, but other state schools must apply for dispensation from the DfE. So far only a few academies and free schools have made use of their ability, including the Compass School Southwark. |