England's highest-achieving secondary schools admit significantly fewer disadvantaged pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) compared to their average counterparts, a new report reveals.
The Sutton Trust charity found that the top 500 secondary schools enrol approximately half the proportion of disadvantaged Send pupils seen in typical comprehensive schools.
This disparity is further highlighted by a survey where two in five (41 per cent) school leaders believe some institutions in their locality actively deter applications from pupils with Send.
The findings emerge as the government introduces extensive reforms aimed at fostering greater inclusivity for Send pupils within mainstream education.
Sutton Trust chief executive Nick Harrison said it was “appalling” that many top-performing schools took in a lower proportion of Send pupils than lived in their catchment area.
“This amounts to further social segregation of the school system, and risks entrenching the double disadvantage faced by low-income families whose children also have Send needs,” he said.
“In many cases, schools appear to be actively discouraging applications from Send pupils.
“But we should recognise the tangled web of assessments and incentives, and long-term underfunding, that prevent school leaders taking bolder action on inclusivity.
“This must change if the government is to deliver on its ambition to create more inclusive schools.
“Right now, too many young people aren’t able to get the support they need locally, and that’s a disgrace.”
The 500 state secondary schools with the best progress outcomes for pupils on average take in 5.1 percentage points fewer pupils eligible for free school meals than live in their catchment areas, the research suggested.
Those same 500 schools had an average of 14.8 per cent of pupils receiving Send support, compared with 17.6 per cent at the average comprehensive, the Sutton Trust said.
The top-performing schools took in on average 1.1 percentage points fewer pupils receiving Send support than their catchment areas.
But the gap closed for pupils with Send who had Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs).
The average school had 5.6 per cent pupils who were both receiving Send support and eligible for free school meals.
Despite this, the Sutton Trust said the top schools for progress had 3.6 per cent of pupils meeting this definition on average, compared with 4.9% in their catchment areas.
The Sutton Trust polling conducted by Teacher Tapp of more than 2,200 senior school leaders in both primary and secondary schools found nearly one in three (32 per cent) thought parents’ perceptions about a school’s approach to behaviour explained differing intakes for Send pupils.
Nearly two in three (63 per cent) said reputation for quality of Send provision played a role in intake.
The research, which drew on the National Pupil Database, found 71 per cent of the top 500 schools that had a gap in intake for pupils eligible for free school meals also had a gap for pupils receiving Send support.
The Sutton Trust is calling on the government to address issues that disincentivise schools from taking in more children with Send and from poorer backgrounds, by shifting school accountability away from Ofsted and league tables.
Setting out the government’s reforms to the Send system last month, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson vowed inclusion for Send children.
Schools, colleges and early years providers would get £1.6 billion over three years to help them provide support to Send children.
And the new Ofsted report cards would evaluate inclusion for disadvantaged children and children with Send as part of an inspection.
Ofsted chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver told the Association of School and College Leaders annual conference earlier this month that Ofsted would identify contextual challenges schools faced.
But it would never downplay “disappointing outcomes” for disadvantaged children, he added, and said Ofsted would “never acquiesce to the quiet curse of low expectations”.
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