School admissions don’t hit poor children - education chiefs

EDUCATION bosses have denied that poor Oldham children are being held back by socially selective school admissions.

The children’s charity Barnardo’s says that they are nearly half as likely to get good GCSE grades than pupils from richer families.

It claims that they are condemned to go to the worst secondaries because “unfair” and complex admissions policies favour better off families.

They are also more likely to leave school at 16 with no college course, training placement or work.

And the charity fears that it will get worse as more secondaries become academies and foundation schools which control their own admissions like church schools.

Five Oldham schools will be replaced with three academies in September. Out of the remaining 11, only Saddleworth is not a foundation or church school.

Last year 24 per cent of Oldham pupils on free school meals achieved the government’s benchmark of five GCSE grades at A* to C, including English and maths.

The figure rose to 52 per cent to those not getting free meals, a gap of 28.

The largest gaps in Greater Manchester were in the affluent borough’s of Trafford and Stockport.

Barnado’s said that well-off families were more able to increase their child’s changes of getting into a good school by hiring a private tutor, moving house or going to church more often.

It wants schools to admit equal proportions of pupils with different abilities.

Chief executive Martin Narey said: “The school admissions system has become a complex game, one that many parents in poorer households are not aware is going on around them.

“Secondary school admissions fail to ensure a level playing field for all children. Instead we are seeing impenetrable clusters of privilege forming around the most popular schools.”

But Councillor Jack Hulme, cabinet member for children and families, said: “Oldham Council is committed to ensuring all children have access to the best education possible.”

“We work in close partnership with schools, academies and the Local Admissions Forum to secure a level playing field and a fair admissions system for all local children.

“No Oldham schools select by ability and — from September 1 — we have a statutory responsibility to co-ordinate all admissions and transfers to schools, regardless of whether they are their own admissions authority. We will administer all applications to ensure all children and families get equal and fair treatment.”