The Observer view on equality in schools

Latin at comprehensives can now join lobster from Lidl and champagne from Aldi in the list of money-saving tips Tatler has produced for its wealthy but price-conscious readers. Last week, it published a guide to the nation’s most socially exclusive state schools, cheerfully declaring “freedom from feedom”. But according to Alun Jones, president of the Girls’ School Association, Tatler-perusing parents buying expensive houses in the catchment areas of excellent state schools are exercising a greater form of privilege than those who send their children to a private school.

…statistics about the advantage a private sector education buys are better known, research from the Sutton Trust shows that the country’s top 200 state schools have much lower-than-average proportions of children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Read the full article here.