“If access to an independent education leads to increased opportunities why shouldn’t access to that education be open to all?” – asks Sir Peter Lampl in an article for the Telegraph.

The divide between state and independent schools is in the news again. Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt is calling for independent schools to do more to increase social mobility through stronger partnerships with state schools.

It’s an issue I’ve been engaged with since 1997 when I set up the Sutton Trust, a foundation dedicated to improving social mobility through education, and we co-funded the first of such partnerships with government.

Since then, we’ve published many reports examining the advantages conferred by a private education. It was our research that found students from independent schools were 55 times more likely to get a place at Oxbridge than those eligible for free school meals.

This year we published a report showing that children who attend private school will earn nearly £200,000 more on average in their early careers than their state educated peers.

View the full article here.