A story recently resurfaced of a social experiment in which four boys from East London were parachuted into the so-called saviour that was Rugby School.

As far as I could tell from the reporting, it was deemed a success. And it’s not difficult to see why. It’s all to easy to casually glance through the project and decide that you’ve come across a neat solution to social mobility.

But anyone who decides we’ve discovered the magic social mobility bullet is mistaken. The solution is reductive.

The notion that a private school education solves the problems of poverty is ridiculous. This is especially true if, as part of that experiment, the students need to be wearing a donated Burberry coat to “fit in”. 

As both an alumnus of a private school, a teacher in state schools and a volunteer of many organisations in London dedicated to improving the welfare of young people from those backgrounds, I feel confident in my scorn for this experiment. 

‘So many role models closer to home’

The fact is that there are so many organisations in and around the capital that are dedicated to changing the lives of young people born into challenging circumstances. And they are doing so, tirelessly, every day and attempting to do it, most importantly, at scale. Not for them, cherrypicking a handful of kids and transferring them into completely new environments.

There are so many role models one can look to across industries where background has not limited their success - where they’ve not needed to up sticks and head to some vast, ancient school in the Home Counties.

The narrative that hanging out with future prime ministers or playing on grounds where FTSE 100 CEOs scored tries is the only way to transform the lives of those afflicted by poverty sends a terrible message.

Let’s take, as our examples, two outstanding and exceptionally talented black men in London who weren’t parachuted into Rugby School to change their lives. New Vogue editor Edward Enninful tells the story of his low-income background and how those experiences inspired him to pursue a career in fashion. That worked out pretty well. Oscar nominee Daniel Kaluuya was raised on a Kentish Town council estate by a single mother.

State schools in the capital are achieving tremendously (many hundreds of thousands more children in “good” or “outstanding” schools than in 2006), and many charities - City Year and Franklin Scholars to name but two - provide shining lights for students who face difficulties in their lives.

The solution is closer to home than you think.

Oliver Beach is a former inner-city teacher and Teach First ambassador. He tweets @olivermbeach