Writing for the Telegraph, Graeme Paton reports on new Sutton Trust research suggesting more schools ‘should allocate places using lotteries.’

More schools should employ lottery-style admissions policies to ensure access to top comprehensives is not limited to families that can “afford to pay a premium on their mortgages”, according to a new report.

Schools in inner-city neighbourhoods should make greater use of random allocation and banding systems to create a better social mix and prevent the middle-classes dominating places, it is claimed.

The Sutton Trust, a social mobility charity, said that one-in-20 secondary schools used some form of entry system designed to stop wealthier families moving into the catchment area in 2012.

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Conor Ryan, the trust’s director of research, said numbers should rise further to create more equality in the state education system.

But he insisted safeguards should be built in to protect children who live very close to the school gates.

Comprehensives using lotteries should employ “inner and outer” catchment areas, with the closest pupils given places while all others enter the random ballot, he said.

“Access to the most popular comprehensives should not be limited to those who can afford to pay a premium on their mortgages or rents,” he said.

“We believe that more urban schools should use such methods, but for them to be most effective, they should develop them in partnership with other schools and local authorities.

“A common fear of such approaches is that children living next door to a school may not get admitted.“It is possible to address such concerns by using an inner and outer catchment area, with those living closest to the school in the inner area, but access opened to a wider group of parents in the outer catchment. This is an approach taken by some schools and academies already.”

Read the full article here.