According to research, published by the Institute of Education (IoE), critics’ concerns that free schools might become socially selective are being supported, as fewer primary pupils attending these schools are eligible for Free School Meals than in other local schools.
This is also backed by the fact that primary children who enter free schools are academically ahead of their peers in the neighbourhood and the rest of the country, with distinctly higher Foundation Stage Profile scores, says the IoE. The mean score of free school pupils was 0.33 compared to scores close to zero in other schools.
This is despite free schools being opened in disadvantaged neighbourhoods as the Government intended.
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