The head of Eton College has said he wants to help level up the education system by sending more pupils from disadvantaged areas and the north of England to Oxbridge.
Simon Henderson has told i he would like to see a “broader talent pool of young people” going to the UK’s leading universities and spelled out more of Eton’s plans to open three co-educational state sixth forms in Dudley, Oldham and Middlesbrough.
His comments come in the wake of controversy over the prospect of pupils from independent schools – such as Eton – losing out on places as elite universities try to accommodate more students from poorer homes.
Earlier this month Cambridge University vice chancellor Professor Stephen Toope told The Times: “We have to keep making it very, very clear we are intending to reduce over time the number of people who are coming from independent school backgrounds into places like Oxford or Cambridge.”
