• We find that the overall rate of FSM uptake at the top 500 comprehensives measured on the traditional five good GCSE scale is just below half the national average, 7.6% compared to 16.5%, in almost 3,000 state secondary schools. Only 49 of the top 500 schools have free school meal rates higher than the national average.
• 95% of the top 500 comprehensives take fewer pupils on free school meals than the total proportion in their local areas, including almost two thirds (64%) which are unrepresentative of their local authority area with gaps of five or more percentage points.
• Schools controlling their own admissions policies are over-represented in the top 500. 75% of the top 500 comprehensives are their own admissions authorities, compared to 61% of the same types of school nationally. Voluntary-aided schools, making up 24% of the top 500, and converter academies, making up 37%, are the most over-represented.
• Categorising schools in the top 500 list by their religious nature or whether or not they are single-sex, shows again that they are not representative of these types of school nationally. Schools in this group are more likely to have a religious character: faith schools account for 19% nationally, but make up 33% of the top 500. The top 500 are also less likely to be co-educational: single-sex schools account for 11% of our sample nationally but make up 16% of the top 500.
• The average FSM rate at the top 500 schools when ranked by the EBacc measure is even more socially exclusive than the top 500 ranked by the 5A*-C including English and mathematics. Only an average of 7.2% of pupils at these top 500 schools receive free school meals, compared to 7.6% of pupils in schools using the 5A*-C, including English and maths measure, and the 16.5% national average.