Ministers’ plans to use banding and busing to engineer fairer school admissions in England are coming under attack from both sides of the political spectrum.
The forthcoming schools’ White Paper is expected to encourage secondary schools to admit pupils in equal numbers from a range of ability bands.
Aides to Ruth Kelly, Education Secretary, stress there is no question of compulsion.
The secretary of state said this week she was working on “how we can get families living in council estates to exercise their choice”.
To that end, the White Paper is expected to introduce subsidised school transport to help poorer families.
The Admissions Maze 19