Poorer pupils are less likely to attend top-performing comprehensive schools even if they live in their catchment areas, a new report suggests, prompting calls for a review of the school admissions code.
A study by the Sutton Trust, based on national data analysis by the National Foundation for Educational Research, found there were 155 secondary comprehensives in England that are more “socially selective” than the average grammar school.
The 500 comprehensive schools with the highest progress scores had a lower proportion of disadvantaged pupils (17.1 per cent) than those with lower results (22 per cent), the research found.
Schools with the highest attainment scores admitted even fewer free school meals children (13.3 per cent).
