Oversubscribed schools should be encouraged to prioritise poorer pupils in admission rounds and ensure “potential isn’t determined by postcode”, a leading education charity has said.
Teach First has called on the government to boost pupil premium funding to motivate schools to adopt the approach, as part of a multi-billion package of reforms it says will “break the cycle of poverty”.
The charity suggests a pilot in which oversubscribed schools give priority to children eligible for free school meals. This could be run across multiple areas by working with a trust with national reach. If successful, the policy could be scaled nationally.
“Prioritising children from poorer backgrounds in oversubscribed school admissions is a bold but necessary step to make sure potential isn’t determined by postcode,” said Russell Hobby, Teach First’s chief executive.
Catchment areas favour richer families
Schools have been allowed to prioritise disadvantaged children since 2014, but just 5 per cent of secondaries do so.
Teach First said catchment-based admissions disproportionately favoured wealthier families who could afford to live near high-performing schools.
It said many schools inherited admission criteria from councils or previous leadership, but there was no incentive to change without “strong government backing or adequate funding”, especially “in light of potential local pushback”.
It said a pilot could test “impact on attainment, effect on community cohesion within the schools and parental perceptions, while assessing the feasibility of implementation”.
Reach Schools, a multi-academy trust in west London, prioritises poorer pupils, resulting in a “stable, above-average proportion of disadvantaged pupils and a fairer, more inclusive intake”, said Rebecca Cramer, its chief executive.
“If we want schools to reflect and uplift their communities, we need to exercise our freedoms as schools to ensure that access to great education is fair for all, especially those who need it the most.”
Priortisation ‘not straightforward’
When oversubscribed, Totteridge Academy in north London reserves half of its places for those on pupil premium.
This was introduced after the school’s results soared and its improved reputation led to the “unintended consequence” of fewer poorer pupils.
Last year, Progress 8 scores for pupil premium youngsters was +0.88. The change also helped create a “clear moral purpose and shared vision that ensures all pupils make excellent progress”, a report said.
But Pepe Di’Iasio, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said it was difficult for schools to “make unilateral decisions” to prioritise disadvantaged children, because the accountability system would then penalise the school or trust in comparison with others.
He also said prioritising poorer pupil was not “straightforward”. It could, for instance, leave pupils with longer journeys to school because they were out of the traditional catchment.
Council changes admissions
Brighton and Hove City Council this year became the first local authority to adopt an admissions policy that prioritises pupils on free school meals.
Data shows one popular school, Varndean, will admit 113 pupils eligible for free school meals this September. That accounts for 38 per cent of the intake, above the average in the area and nearly double the 20 per cent of last year.
Nearly 100 children on free school meals received places at out of catchment secondary schools, with most at Varndean and another of the city’s most popular schools, Brighton and Hove News reported.
Di’Iasio said a targeted pilot seemed a sensible first step, but added that ASCL favoured a review of the school admissions code.
Other policy recommendations from Teach First included restoring the pupil premium to 2015 levels in real terms and creating a new subcategory for “persistently disadvantaged” pupils. This would cost about £640 million per year.
It also called for an expansion to teacher retention payments for those in disadvantaged schools, costing about £123 million a year, and abolishing the two-child limit, at a cost of £3.4 billion a year.
Hobby said next week’s spending review was a “crucial moment for the government to strengthen the pupil premium, so every child gets the support they need to thrive”.
Popular schools should prioritise places for poorer pupils, says charity
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