The Research

The Sutton Trust has long been looking at this issue. The most recent reports ‘Selective Comprehensives 2024’ and ‘Social Selection on the Map’ highlight the current issues. The top performing comprehensives in England take on fewer children eligible for Free School Meals than the national average, and in many cases fewer than their local averages. In other words, if you are poor your child is less likely to attend a top comprehensive, even if there is one in your local area. This social selection also tends to be more significant in faith schools, smaller MATs and converter academies.

‘Social Selection on the Map’ takes this analysis further, providing a detailed geographical analysis. It shows that levels of social segregation are not equal across the country, with the North East and North West experiencing the highest levels of social segregation. In contrast, London, the West Midlands and the South West have the lowest levels of segregation on average among comprehensive schools. However, the inclusion of grammar schools can change the regional picture, as the extent of socio-economic selection in their intakes can have a dramatic effect in the areas where they exist.

The report also looks at social segregation at a local authority level, including ranking them. This gives a valuable insight into local communities. For example, in Solihull, the most socially segregated local authority, 32% of pupils would need to be redistributed across schools to achieve an even spread of disadvantaged pupils. Meanwhile our School Admissions Dashboard shows the level of social segregation in almost every school in the country. This is a free resource that anyone can access.

Why does this matter?

All children deserve equal access to the best providers of the compulsory education we provide.

One important measure is the free school meals (FSM) gap in each local area. Looking at outcomes, ‘Social Selection on the Map’ further strengthens the argument that on an individual school basis KS4 outcomes as measured by Progress 8, Attainment 8, EBacc or English Maths Crossover are all correlated with the FSM Gap of a school. It can therefore be easy to understand why stand-alone schools may be hesitant to tackle this issue of social selection and proactively attempt to increase their intakes of FSM-eligible pupils.

However, interesting patterns emerge by looking at outcomes through a wider lens. At a local authority level there is no correlation between overall levels of social segregation and overall outcomes. This suggests that if local authorities became more socially diverse this would not be detrimental to outcomes. However, there’s a correlation between levels of social segregation and the attainment gap, with a 27% difference in the English and Maths attainment gap between the most and least segregated areas.

Most worryingly of all, this is driven by underperformance of children eligible for FSM rather than over performance of children not eligible for FSM. All of this suggests that making our schools more socially inclusive could have a positive impact on closing the national attainment gap by increasing the attainment of pupils eligible for FSM. Furthermore, a socially balanced, inclusive, and diverse school better prepares its pupils for life in modern Britain. It also levels the playing field for schools, giving them an equal chance of securing good outcomes and recruiting and retaining staff.

Looking at this from a Widening Participation perspective the benefits of tackling this issue are obvious. If disadvantaged children are getting equal access to the top schools, then more disadvantaged children will secure higher Key Stage Four and Key Stage Five outcomes, thus opening the doors to Higher Education.

It’s important to note that social segregation is almost never a proactive or deliberate choice of school leaders. Most often it’s driven by the housing market. As the reputation of a school increases the demand for its places increases. As almost 90% of schools utilise proximity oversubscription criteria[i]. This translates to a competition for buying houses as close to the school as possible. Over time the cost of living near a high performing school increases and lower income families are priced out.

Other factors also come into play. 56% of working class families cite ‘hidden costs’ of attending a school as a significant factor in their school choices.[ii] And it can also be very challenging for parents to make effective school choices given the accessibility of information around admissions.

So what can we do…

School leaders may not be to blame for social segregation, but they do have a huge amount of power and autonomy to proactively tackle the issue. So how can universities support schools to do so?

The first thing they can do is raise awareness as currently too few school leaders know about this issue. Only 50% of school leaders think social segregation is a problem in state schools. Moreover, those who arguably suffer the most from a socially segregated system are more likely to recognise it as an issue. 61% of those teaching in the least socially selective schools agree there is a problem, compared to 38% in the most socially selective schools.[iii] There needs to be widespread recognition of the issue and the impact it is having on our disadvantaged children.

Secondly, universities can encourage schools in their communities to consider committing to the Fair School Admissions Pledge. This two-month programme involves schools completing a diagnostic review of their admissions processes and then writing an action plan to improve their admissions. Schools that choose to change their admissions policy can access a second round of support. All schools which complete the Fair School Admissions Pledge are recognised with the Fair School Admissions Award. Last academic year 48 schools committed to the Pledge and almost 80 schools received the Fair School Admissions Award as we also recognised schools that already had fair admissions policies in place. This year a further 14 schools have already committed to the Pledge with at least 5 schools looking to amend their admissions policies.

Finally, universities can continue to model best practice with their commitment to Widening Participation and continue to work as part of their communities to give pupils the best chance of becoming socially mobile.