In a recent article for the Sun, Michael Gove wrote that while academies enjoy all the freedoms of private schools, “they’re also socially comprehensive, open to children of every ability with no selection or screening of students.” But today’s report by the Academies Commission suggests that the schools are in fact “finding methods to select covertly”.
In its new study, Unleashing Greatness: Getting the best from an academised system, the independent panel, led by Ofsted’s former chief inspector Christine Gilbert, warns that academies are gaming the system by holding social events with prospective parents and pre-admission meetings. “Such practices can enable schools to select pupils from more privileged families where parents have the requisite cultural capital to complete the [form] in ways that will increase their child’s chances,” the report says. The admissions code states that schools “cannot interview children or parents” and that when coping with oversubscription, must not “give priority to children on the basis of any practical or financial support parents may give to the school or any associated organisation”.
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