Free schools: report doesn't say they're "cherry picking" pupils

Are free schools 'cherry picking' wealthy pupils over the more disadvantaged? The front page of today's i newspaper said so — but the research it was reporting on didn't go that far.

The researchers found that of the children attending the schools, a smaller proportion were eligible for free school meals than children in their local neighbourhood. The researchers said that this finding supported "concerns that the schools might become socially selective".

But schools don't have to actively "pick" children from certain backgrounds in order to end up with more of them in their classrooms. It might be that parents of children eligible for free school meals are less likely to put in applications.

There were other differences between pupils at free schools looked at by the researchers and children in the local area; they were more likely to be non-white, and in the case of secondary schools, had achieved better results at Key Stage 2.