Bristol Uni report finds 5% of schools give priority to disadvantaged pupils
The admissions process news comes on the day parents of Year 6 pupils find out where their kids are headed next across the South West
Last updated 9th Jun 2024
Today is the day parents across the country find out where their Year 6 children are off to next - and today, we're hearing from the University of Bristol, who've led a brand-new report on entry rules for schools, and how they are 'thwarting' social mobility.
Especially for the most sought-after state schools, the report, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, found just five per cent of school prioritise disadvantaged pupils - while the figure of priority for people who live close to the school is 20 times that figure.
The research is the first national analysis since widespread academisation of what determines school admissions for all state secondary schools in England.
It found where people live is a hugely influential factor on schools in making their decisions.
Lead author Simon Burgess, Professor of Economics at the University of Bristol, said: “The report provides a much-needed comprehensive overview of how secondary schools are accepting pupils. Its findings raise important concerns about the chances of England successfully levelling up achievement and opportunity for children and young people from all social backgrounds.”
Local authority changes in recent years such as the introduction of Academies and Free Schools mean most (more than 90% of around 3,250) secondary schools now decide the school admissions process for themselves.
Research found, while families submit a list of their preferred schools, the oversubscribed ones - and resultantly, the schools which are stronger performing are - select their cohorts according to their own admissions policies - all of which is subject to the School Admissions Code, as set out by the Government.
Despite clear Government extra funding incentives to admit disadvantaged pupils, very few schools (just 5%) prioritised them in the admissions process.
Recent analysis also looked into grammar schools - which found those institutions that gave places to pupils from households in receipt of welfare benefits, and therefore eligible for the Pupil Premium, no more social inclusivity than those who don't, as the priority is conditional on the pupil’s score in an academic test.
Apart from meeting legal obligations, having a sibling already at the school was the most common criterion, with 96% adopting this rule.
Geographical location, including catchment areas and distance or travel time from home to school, was also widely used – by 88% of schools.
In tie-break cases where would-be pupils met the same criteria, how close they lived to the school was typically found to be given precedence. The few grammar schools plus some other schools (11% in total) use academic tests to determine admissions, while very few schools (1%) use a random allocation as the tie-breaker.
Co-author Dr Ellen Greaves, who completed a PhD on the economics of school choice at the University of Bristol, said: “As schools achieving the strongest outcomes for pupils are more likely to be oversubscribed, they have the power to devise entry systems to choose who attends. Picking pupils according to where they live can mean students from the poorest families are assigned to the least effective schools. Top-performing schools get to indirectly select pupils from affluent households in the vicinity, effectively freezing out those less fortunate and hindering social mobility.”
The report also highlighted examples of more innovative admissions arrangements, including random allocation of some places to applicants regardless of where they lived, test-based selection processes to ensure mixed-ability intake, and constructive use of the Pupil Premium as a priority for admissions.
“Although these cases were relatively isolated, they illustrate that the most successful schools can introduce systems which favour pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and further social progress,” said co-author Professor Estelle Cantillon, from the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management.
“Hopefully these will be championed as best practice and act as a catalyst for future positive policy change in an area which through decentralisation has become geared to benefit the more fortunate.”
As part of this research, work to investigate the impact of such admissions arrangements on the attainment gap between pupils from poor and more affluent households is also in progress, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, and will form the basis of further reports.
Ruth Maisey, Programme Head of Education at Nuffield Foundation, said: “This research highlights the very real barrier that pupils from lower-income households face when applying for their secondary school place.
“Prioritising local pupils reinforces geographic inequalities by excluding those who can’t afford to live close to the top-performing schools. We hope this research encourages more schools to think creatively about using their admissions criteria to promote opportunity and fairer access.”
The situation in Bath and North East Somerset
Families across the West Country have been finding out today which secondary school their children will be moving to in September.
It's good news for many, with BANES Council saying 9 in 10 Year 6 pupils will be going to their first choice school.
Bath & North East Somerset Council received 1881 applications from B&NES residents for secondary school places for admission into the 2023/2024 academic year, slightly down on 1,887 for the previous year.
Of the applications, 98.2% received one of their overall preferences with 91.7% allocated a place at their highest preferred school, making up a total of 1,724 pupils.
Last year the figure for first preference was 89.2 per cent.
Figures show 105 pupils received an offer of their second preference of school, 16 pupils their third preference, and no pupils their fourth preference or fifth preference.
Thirty-four pupils have not been offered a place at any of their preferences and have instead been offered a place at their next nearest school with a place available, which is known as a referral.
Councillor Dine Romero, cabinet member for Children and Young People, Communities and Culture, said: “This is a big day for our families with children heading off to secondary school in September, it can be a stressful experience, so I’m pleased that 1,724 children have received the good news today that they have been given their first preference.
“We have great schools in Bath and North East Somerset and I wish all our Year 6 children the very best for their transition to secondary school.”
All Bath and North East Somerset pupils who made an on-time application have been offered a place.