King Edward VI grammars in Birmingham are already held up as an example of radical and progressive selective education, with one of the largest cohorts of poor children attending the six schools.
Heath Monk, executive director of the trust, said it could still do more to boost social mobility if schools could identify and target the group of low-income children above the free school meals threshold. Many already do attend the six grammars, according to the Higher Education Policy Institute report, and get into the top universities with stellar grades but they are hard to target and track, he said.
“At the moment there is no way we can identify them or prioritise children on the next level up. They are by no means affluent,