The Sutton Trust is quoted responding to criticism of fair banding in a BBC online report by Judith Burns.

Some of the most disadvantaged children can lose out when schools use “banding” systems to try to ensure a broad mix of pupils, a report says.

Under “fair banding”, all children applying to a school take a test and are then divided into ability bands.

The school then takes an equal number of children from each band.

But the Comprehensive Future group says systems that rely on parents bringing their children to be tested may “exclude” the most deprived.

Earlier this year a report from education charity Sutton Trust said the use of banding and random allocation, where places are decided by ballot, was increasing, particularly in London.

The report welcomed the change, particularly in areas where schools were oversubscribed.

At the time co-author, Prof Anne West, of the London School of Economics, said: “While banding is not a panacea, it can contribute to creating more balanced intakes than would otherwise be the case.”

The Sutton Trust report recommended schools co-ordinated locally to ensure “effective use of banding”, with a common test to ensure pupils did not have to sit multiple tests.

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The [Comprehensive Future] group backs calls for banding tests to be standardised across local authority areas and greater use of randomised ballots to allocate places.

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Conor Ryan, director of research at Sutton Trust, said: “Our top 500 comprehensives have half the average number of pupils on free school meals, often because their catchment areas help those parents who can afford the high house prices to live nearest to these successful schools.

“If we are to enable a wider range of pupils to go to these schools, we need to open up admissions for at least a significant proportion of places through fair banding or random allocation.

“Of course, this must be done fairly and transparently, and it should be done in conjunction with improved outreach to less advantaged families and good transport links.”

Read the full BBC report here

The Sutton Trust was also quoted by Irena Barker in the TES.