The Sutton Trust has responded to the Government’s education green paper, ‘Schools that work for everyone’, drawing on our new research ‘Gaps in Grammar’ which addresses the Government’s argument that grammar schools benefit disadvantaged and highly able students and improve the whole education system overall.

The key points in our submission are below (the full response may be found by clicking on the PDF on the right):

  • The Sutton Trust believes that the Government must first look to encourage existing grammar schools, which our evidence has shown tend to be highly socially selective, to widen access through outreach, test preparation and contextual admissions.
  • The Trust knows that universities play a crucial role in encouraging pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds to stay on to higher education. Through our Sutton Scholars and Summer Schools programmes, we are supporting highly able low and middle income students to experience what higher education might be like, and the possibilities which are open to them.
  • The Sutton Trust believes that Open Access to some of the best independent day schools is a way of improving social mobility for those from less privileged backgrounds and that it is something which the Government should consider taking forward as a national scheme.
  • We believe that the 50% expectation should remain with regards to faith schools and that faith schools should be encouraged to put into practice a more transparent admissions system.