Half of grammar schools consulting over plans to expand have failed to include measures to improve access for disadvantaged pupils, according to analysis conducted by anti-selection campaigners.
Comprehensive Future (CF) has been tracking which of England’s 163 grammar schools are planning to apply for a tranche of the government’s £50 million Selective Schools Expansion Fund for 2018/19, announced last month by education secretary Damian Hinds.
“Good” or “outstanding” schools can apply to expand the number of school places onsite or via satellite sites if they can show “ambitious and realistic” plans for increasing access for disadvantaged pupils. Each bid should have been the subject of a minimum four-week “fair and open” local consultation.
The campaign group has now identified 30 SSEF-related consultations - all seeking to increase places on site. If all end up being submitted and approved, this would result in 987 additional Year 7 selective places in England.
No target has been set for the increase of disadvantaged children a school must admit, but the SSEF guidance stipulates that the plans must “clearly demonstrate how schools will go beyond anything they are currently doing”.
Bids “will be judged based on the strength, ambition, and realism of those plans”.
Yet despite this core requirement, 15 of the 30 schools keen to expand have failed to mention specific measures they intend to take to improve social mobility as part of their consultations, according to analysis by CF.
Melissa Benn, CF chair, said the lack of information included in the consultation was worrying given the government’s claim that the measures were aimed at increasing access for disadvantaged pupils, who currently make up less than 3 per cent of grammar school pupils overall.
“The fact that so many of these grammar schools are not bothering to say what they’ll do for disadvantaged pupils shows they don’t see this as any kind of priority,” she said. “The idea of improving access for poorer pupils is only window dressing to get this plan passed its critics. It suggests they think they’ll get funding no matter what.”
Kent County Council wants to expand the intake of Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for boys by one additional form of entry by 2019, from 180 to 210 places.
Currently, just 1.6 per cent of children at the school are eligible for free school meals, which is below the Kent and national averages of 12.2 per cent and 14.7 per cent respectively. But in its consultation document, the council makes no reference to increasing access for disadvantaged children.
The Department for Education stresses that successful bidders must “make clear how they will increase their intake of disadvantaged pupils”.
And government guidance says public consultations by applicants must be informative and make the case for expansion both in terms of demand for places and the educational benefits.
Jim Skinner, chief executive of the Grammar Schools Heads’ Association, said there was a lack of clarity about precisely what the consultation should include, coupled with a tight deadline for drawing up the plans.
But he said he was sure schools would submit their plans for improving access for disadvantaged pupils. “I’m very confident that all these schools will be addressing that through their fair access partnership plans, which they will put in as part of the bid.”
He added: “If they don’t address it, if they are not meeting those criteria, they are unlikely to be successful.”
Roger Gough, Kent County Council’s cabinet member for children, young people and education, said the council is working to “tight deadlines” but is “confident we will be able to put forward a comprehensive bid for DfE funding and hope for a successful outcome.”
He added: “Before an application is submitted to the Department for Education for funding, it will produce a Fair Access and Partnership Plan detailing the work it and Kent County Council have already done, and will continue to do, to increase the number of disadvantaged and lower income pupils admitted to the school.”
Mr Gough said that new admissions arrangements from September would give more priority to pupil premium children. An expansion of the school’s outreach to such pupils would be included within its Fair Access and Partnership Plan.
Comprehensive Future recently conducted a Freedom of Information request of all grammar schools in England to find out how many already have an admission policy priority for disadvantaged pupils. : The majority (22) of the schools hoping to expand already have specific policies for disadvantaged pupils, yet in six of the schools, the policy didn’t result in any disadvantaged pupils coming on roll in Sept 2018.
A DfE spokesperson said: “We want more children from all backgrounds to have access to a world-class education, which is why all selective schools applying for funding to expand must not only be ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’, but must also make clear how they will increase their intake of disadvantaged pupils and work with local non-selective schools to improve outcomes for pupils of all backgrounds.”
