Election 2019: Charity calls for free private school places for disadvantaged pupils

The charity wants to see 40,000 independent school places opened up to pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and those who cannot afford fees.

The move is part of its Mobility Manifesto pledges that the charity wants to see adopted by political parties ahead of December's general election, to break down social mobility barriers faced by disadvantaged pupils.
The charity stops short of calling for legislation to force independent schools to give greater access to children from disadvantaged communities.

Instead it says: "Independent schools should be opened up, on a voluntary basis, to pupils from all backgrounds."

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The move is likely to be opposed by the Labour Party, which wants to radically reform the independent education sector. At its annual conference last month it voted to abolish private schools and integrate them into the state sector.

According to the charity more than half of those in top professional jobs were educated in independent schools. These charge more than £14,000 a year in fees on average, but currently only one per cent of private school pupils receive bursaries to cover fees.

It is calling for the government-backed Open Access scheme to ensure independent day schools can admit more pupils from all backgrounds.

This has already been trialled by the trust in the independent Belvedere School in Liverpool, where parents' fees were means-tested based on income, with a third paying nothing at all, a third paying partial fees and a third paying full fees.

The overall cost in the trial of each place was the same as a state school place and academic standards increased, says the charity.

Ten private schools, including Westminster and St Pauls, have already signed up to the scheme, which plans to open up 1,000 places to pupils who cannot afford fees.

The charity wants this to be rolled out across 100 private schools, with 40,000 pupils, who cannot afford fees and from disadvantaged backgrounds, offered places.

"Independent schools provide a strong pipeline of students to leading universities and the top professions, but they are largely closed to families who can't afford the fees," states the charity's Mobility Manifesto.
"More teaching time, extensive extracurricular activities and smaller class sizes also mean independent schools are effective at developing pupils' essential life skills, which are increasingly important in the world of work."

Other demands made by the charity include revamping state school admissions so that top-performing schools offer ballots and priority status to disadvantaged pupils.

In addition, a new fund should be created to support high-achieving disadvantaged pupils in state schools, which the charity wants to have a greater focus on "life skills" including motivation, confidence and communication.

More than nine out of 10 employers say that life skills are at least as important as academic results for young people, according to the charity.
The government's 30 hours of funded childcare for working parents of three- to four-year-olds should be opened up to disadvantaged families, says the charity's Mobility Manifesto.

It is also calling for student maintenance grants to be restored and for unpaid internships to be banned.
"To make sure we make use of our best talents, we need to see our most successful educational institutions open their doors to everyone regardless of background," said Sutton Trust founder and chairman Sir Peter Lampl.

"Our independent schools, which have long been a source of educational excellence, should enable access for all, not just the seven per cent who can afford them. The Trust's Open Access programme provides the blueprint for achieving this.

"But to harness the UK's education system to drive social mobility and end the waste of talent, we need change at a national level."