No place for class politics

Their only offence, it appears, is a laudable desire for their

offspring to have a sound schooling and learn the key skills that will help to underpin a successful career. It is also not the fault of the families concerned that there is such a gulf between the performances of schools; this academic apartheid is the legacy of successive governments.

Yet, despite the coalition Government championing the importance of local decision-making, it now appears that Ministers are considering whether to introduce rule changes that would see popular schools encouraged to favour poorer children over youngsters from middle class backgrounds.

It is a fundamentally flawed approach that should be discontinued. For, as well as leaving officials facing the unenviable prospect of having to determine a family's social status at a time when neighbours can even have differing interpretations about "class", this approach could, potentially, jeopardise standards at those schools that have deserved reputations for excellence.

While it is important that the admissions process is scrupulously fair and does not disadvantage those families, regardless of wealth, who have lived in the same catchment area for a number of years, policy-makers should not be looking to "dumb down" successful schools.

Their priority has to be raising standards at those failing schools that, for whatever reason, have been allowed to lag behind to such an extent that some parents are not prepared to tolerate "second best". It may be the quality of teaching, the nature of the age-group or the fact that the school concerned has to cater for pupils from a range of ethnic backgrounds.

Whatever, the Government should be aspiring to ensure that every local school has the teachers, resources and parental support to achieve the very best for children. If not, then David Cameron's notion of a "big society" is worthless.