STATE SCHOOL ADMISSIONS
TEACHING AND TUITION
The number of comprehensives which are more socially selective than the average grammar school.
The shortfall of FSM pupils at the highest attaining comprehensive schools compared to the average.
The size of the FSM gap in top schools in the North of England compared to London.
How can we change this?
Our research has uncovered practical, evidence-based solutions to improve access to high-performing state schools.
Admissions to comprehensive schools
Admissions to comprehensive schools
Social segregation across the state school system starts at the top. Our research has consistently shown that the highest performing state schools are effectively socially selective. Many of these schools are unrepresentative of the neighbourhoods around them, taking in fewer disadvantaged pupils than live in the catchment areas they draw from.
A fairer system, where access to schools is not as closely linked to income, would have benefits in terms of overall attainment, teacher recruitment and retention and social cohesion. We want to see more balanced intakes overall, with every high-performing school committed to admitting more poorer pupils.
All comprehensive schools should pledge to prioritise applicants eligible for the pupil premium as an oversubscription criterion, to create more socially balanced intakes and widen access to high performing schools.
Our Fair School Admissions Pledge aims to support schools to make meaningful change to their admissions processes in order to support all children in their communities. Schools, MATs and local authorities that sign up to the pledge will receive support from the Trust to review their existing policies and make relevant changes to help improve the inclusivity of their schools.
SELECTIVE COMPREHENSIVES (2024)
FAIRER SCHOOL ADMISSIONS (2020)
Admissions to grammar schools
Admissions to grammar schools
Disadvantaged children are much less likely than other pupils to attend selective state schools. While grammar schools educate only a small percentage of pupils in England, they account for a high proportion of entrants to leading universities. It is therefore important that access to them is fair, so they can play their part in supporting social mobility.
Grammar schools should give priority to applicants eligible for the pupil premium who meet minimum entrance criteria. They should provide a minimum ten hours test preparation for all pupils to provide a level playing field for the 11-plus and improve their outreach work to families from disadvantaged backgrounds and schools with higher proportions of FSM.
The proportion of school leaders who report using pupil premium funding to plug gaps in their school’s budget.
The proportion of senior school leaders reporting that they’re having to make cuts in teaching staff this year.
The proportion of young people from better-off homes who have received private tuition.
How can we change this?
Our research has uncovered practical, evidence based solution to improving access to high-quality teaching and tuition.
Closing the attainment gap
Closing the attainment gap
The attainment gap is the difference in educational outcomes between students from more and less affluent backgrounds. Research has consistently shown that more disadvantaged children have lower educational outcomes compared to their peers from wealthier backgrounds. The attainment gap had been gradually decreasing throughout the early 2010s, before progress stalled in the years before the pandemic. Since then, the gap has widened considerably, with 10 years of progress now wiped out. Our General Election Briefing sets out a 10-point plan to help close the attainment gap.
It is particularly important that work is done to take poverty out of the classroom. Expanding free school meal eligibility to all children on Universal Credit and increasing breakfast club provision would go a long way in ensuring no child is hungry in school.
CLOSING THE ATTAINMENT GAP (2024)
SOCIAL MOBILITY: THE NEXT GENERATION – LOST POTENTIAL AT AGE 16 (2023)
High-quality teaching
High-quality teaching
Investing in high-quality teaching is the most effective way to improve the attainment of pupils. Yet schools serving disadvantaged communities are more likely to be staffed by teachers without qualified teacher status, with fewer years of experience and by non-specialist science and maths teachers.
The government should monitor social inequalities in teacher recruitment and make sure that schools in poorer communities have well-qualified and experienced staff. School should spend their pupil premium funds on recruiting, retaining and developing their teachers.
Access to tutoring
Access to tutoring
Tutoring is a well-evidenced and highly effective intervention to boost learning. However, there are large gaps in access to private tutoring by socio-economic background. 39% of pupils in the best-off homes had ever received private tutoring compared to just 22% in the worst-off homes. The government’s National Tutoring Programme has had a big impact on levelling the playing field by socio-economic background, with 35% of working-class Year 11 students received private or school-based tutoring, compared to 36% of students from professional homes. New data shows that 27% of pupils on free school meals received tutoring from their school in 2023.
Funding for the National Tutoring Programme is due to end in July 2024. There is a real risk that without continued funding, the huge progress that has been made on access to tutoring through schools will be lost, and a vital means of narrowing the attainment gap squandered. The Sutton Trust is calling for the National Tutoring Programme to be renewed with ringfenced funding for the long-term, and it should be focused on supporting disadvantaged pupils.
School funding
School funding
Funding levels do not match the needs of schools, particularly those serving the most deprived communities. To correct this, the government should reform the National Funding Formula to rebalance funding back towards schools serving the most disadvantaged communities.
The government should also reverse the real terms erosion of Pupil Premium funding, restoring funding to 2014/15 levels by the end of the parliamentary term. This would benefit 2.1m disadvantaged pupils.
Essential life skills
Essential life skills
State schools should be funded and incentivised to develop essential life skills in their students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, both in and out of the classroom.
The development of life skills should be embedded in day-to-day teaching, with dedicated time allocated within the curriculum and classroom strategies such as small-group learning.
Outside of the school gates, access to extracurricular activities is limited for those who cannot afford to pay. Schools should also focus on ensuring a wider range of their pupils develop a broad array of non-academic skills through extra-curricular enrichment activities such as debating, cultural visits and volunteering.
The proportion of teachers that believe their school should increase its focus on teaching life skills.
The proportion of employers who say that life skills are as important as academic results for the success of young people.
The proportion of pupils that don't take part in extra-curricular activities run by their school.
How can we change this?
Our research has uncovered practical, evidence-based solutions to improve access to opportunities and experiences that build essential life skills.
Embed essential life skills in the curriculum
Embed essential life skills in the curriculum
Education is about more than just exam results. Adult life requires a range of skills in order for people to flourish, both in the workplace and in their daily lives, from the confidence and motivation to seek challenges and complete tasks, to the interpersonal skills that aid teamwork and other social interactions. Essential life skills such as motivation, confidence, communication, self-control and coping with stress are crucial to the life chances of young people. In a jobs market where these skills are increasingly valued by employers, more needs to be done to give all young people a chance to develop them.
State schools should be funded and incentivised to develop essential life skills in their students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, both in and out of the classroom.
The development of life skills should be embedded in day-to-day teaching, with dedicated time allocated within the curriculum, classroom strategies such as
small-group learning, alongside access to extracurricular activities.
Access to extra-curricular activities
Access to extra-curricular activities
Outside of the school gates, access to extracurricular activities is limited for those who cannot afford to pay. Addressing these access gaps is key to ensuring all young people receive the education they need to reach their potential.
Schools should focus on ensuring a wider range of their pupils develop a broad array of non-academic skills, through both classroom strategies and extra-curricular enrichment activities such as debating, cultural visits and volunteering.
Just 5% of state school teachers say all their students have adequate access to devices for remote learning.
In the first lockdown, pupils from independent schools were twice as likely to take part in online lessons every day.
Most teachers think the lockdown and associated disruption will increase the attainment gap in their school.
How can we change this?
Evidenced based support is needed in schools to support pupils both during and after the pandemic.
Digital divide
Digital divide
Our research has found big differences in access to the resources needed for remote learning. During the first lockdown, 15% of teachers in the most deprived schools said that more than a third of their students learning from home would not have adequate access to an electronic device for learning, compared to only 2% in the most affluent state schools. 12% of teachers in the most deprived schools also felt that more than a third of their students would not have adequate internet access.
While the government has provided laptops and internet access to some students, many disadvantaged young people still do not have the equipment needed to take part in learning at home. At the same time, many pupils are still having to learn remotely during periods of self-isolation, risking a further widening of the attainment gap.
All young people should have access to the resources needed to learn remotely.
REMOTE LEARNING: THE DIGITAL DIVIDE (2021)
COVID IMPACTS: SCHOOL SHUTDOWN (2020)
Catch-up provision
Catch-up provision
The Sutton Trust is working with the Education Endowment Foundation, Nesta, Teach First and Impetus on the National Tutoring Programme, as a direct response to the Covid-19 crisis. The NTP will play an important role in helping to close the COVID-19 attainment gap.
However, the scale of the impact the pandemic has had on disadvantaged young people is considerable, and it is highly likely additional catch up support will be needed. A full assessment is needed of the pandemic’s impact on the attainment gap. Additional funding is likely to be needed over several years to meet the scale of the challenge.
Our Fair School Admissions Pledge aims to support schools to make meaningful change to their admissions processes in order to support all children in their communities.
