Middle-class children could miss out on the most popular state schools under radical government plans to give priority to pupils from the poorest backgrounds. The controversial change will be made as part of a major overhaul of the school admissions code, the rules that dictate how state schools in England allocate places
As part of a sweeping reform of national admissions rules to be unveiled today, hundreds of academies and free schools will be allowed to select pupils based on family income for the first time.
They will be allowed to discriminate in favour of children who are eligible for free school meals — those whose parents earn £16,000 or less — in an attempt to close the gap between rich and poor.
The move is designed to give the most disadvantaged children access to the most sought-after schools and stop them being edged out by richer families who buy properties near the best secondaries to secure places.
Schools will be given a further incentive in the form of a “pupil premium” worth an extra £430 for each deprived child admitted next year.
The controversial change will be made as part of a major overhaul of the school admissions code, the rules that dictate how state schools in England allocate places
The code was introduced by Labour, but has been widely criticised for being bureaucratic and overly prescriptive.
Within weeks of coming to power, the Coalition announced it would slim the code and give individual schools more power to run their own admissions.
In one of the Government’s most significant education reforms to date, ministers will announce today that the new code will:
• Require all schools to give priority places to children from Armed Forces families, meaning primary schools must admit them to infant classes, even if they exceed the current legal limit of 30 pupils.
• Ban local councils from imposing area-wide “lotteries” to distribute places to over-subscribed schools amid complaints children could be forced to travel miles across towns and cities to lessons. However, individual schools will still be allowed to hold lotteries.
• Strengthen powers awarded to the schools adjudicator, the official admissions watchdog, and give parents more freedom to report schools to the regulator if they suspect head teachers of selecting pupils “by the back door”.
• Allow parents to reserve places for their own children at a new generation of “free schools” if they are involved in setting them up.
The new code will also allow the most popular schools to expand to take in more pupils. The move could result in the significant expansion of England’s 164 grammar schools for the first time since the widespread closures of selective state schools in the 1960s and 1970s.
The announcement is likely to anger middle-class parents who could see their children sidelined in the race for the best school places.
Academies are already among the most popular state schools in the country, with some receiving up to 11 applications for every place.
It is hoped the reforms will lead to an increase in the number of children gaining places at their preferred school. Studies have found that almost one in six children will be forced to accept places at their second, third or fourth choice secondaries this summer.
Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, said: “I think it’s wrong to have a situation where the local authority says: ‘This is a good school, it’s full up, parents have to go to the less good school down the road’.
“As a result of the local authority’s failure to deal with educational under-performance, children continue to go to a poor school.”
The new admissions code must be followed by more than 22,000 state schools in England.
Currently, many middle-class parents attempt to buy homes in the catchment areas of the most popular secondary schools to secure places for their sons or daughters.
In the capital, property prices close to the best schools can be inflated by as much as £400,000, but there are concerns that the practice effectively prices the poor out of the top comprehensive schools.
Under the reforms, academies and free schools, which are independent of local authority control, will be able to give priority to the most deprived pupils during the admissions process.
Currently, schools are only permitted to give priority places to children who are in the care of social services and those with special needs.
The change would apply to the 629 academies already opened. Ministers are encouraging all good and outstanding schools to apply for academy status, with the hope that every state school in England will eventually convert.
So far, some 323 applications have also been made to open free schools, which are academies run by groups of parents, teachers and charities.
A small number of these are expected to open this September.
Any academy attempting to impose the changes will be required to consult with local parents first, a Coalition source added.
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