School admissions may be a political hot potato, but the debate hasconcentrated almost exclusively on secondary rather than primaryschools.
However, according to a report by the education think-tank the Institutefor Research in Integrated Strategies, selection is also a problem inthe primary school system.
The report, Natural Selection?, examined the types of pupil enrolled inall of England's 17,319 primary schools. It found significant variationsin the percentage of children who get free school meals and theproportion that come from the school's local area.
In particular, it found that while community, foundation andvoluntary-controlled primary schools take 60 per cent or more of theirpupils from the local area, voluntary-aided schools took just 44 percent. One in five children attending community schools were entitled tofree school meals but in voluntary-aided, voluntary-controlled andfoundation schools the percentage ranged from 11 to 14 per cent. The gapbetween community and other types of primary school were even morepronounced in London.
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