Independent schools could help fund 10,000 new places for children from lower-income families, following government calls for them to do more to justify their charitable status.
The proposal forms part of the Independent Schools Council’s (ISC) response to the government’s consultation, ‘Schools that work for everyone’, which also outlines plans to expand academic selection in the state system.
The ISC plan would see the government contribute the cost of a state school place to educate children in existing independent schools, with the fee paying schools funding the rest of the cost.
The new places would be free for parents. It echoes the assisted places scheme, brought in by the Conservatives in 1980 to provide places in independent schools for bright working class children, but abolished by Labour in 1997.
The ISC said the places would be available across age groups and schools, and there would be a range of assessment criteria.
The organisation also proposed that groups of independent schools co-sponsor new state-funded schools. It said this would be in partnership with a state school or multi-academy trust lead, and could focus on one or more of the six DfE-identified opportunity areas, which have been labelled ‘cold spots’ for social mobility.
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