Angela Rayner responds to Sutton Trust research on social selectivity in comprehensive schools

Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, responding to the Sutton Trust’s research on social selectivity in the comprehensive school system said:

“Our system of school admissions lets down too many children, and means opportunities are determined by the wealth of a child's parents.

“The government should make school admissions fairer and more consistent by taking these powers away from individual academies and giving them back to local authorities.”

Ends

Notes to Editors

· Today (Thursday 27th February), the Sutton Trust publishes two new pieces of research on social selectivity in the comprehensive school system.

· In the first report, polling of teachers and parents on their views on school admissions finds that:

o Half of secondary school leaders say that social segregation is a problem in state schools.

o An overwhelming majority of parents (78%) want schools to make a better and fairer mix of pupils from different backgrounds.

o Over two-thirds (64%) of parents say high achieving schools should make an effort to take in pupils from less well-off background

· A second report by Professors Anna Vignoles and Simon Burgess gives an overview of the problems with the current a school admissions system and examines the benefits and disadvantaged of a number of proposals for reform, including random lotteries, priority for disadvantaged students and banding tests.