Just 10 London colleges account for 10% of the most disadvantaged students who progress to university from the whole of England. These are among the greatest engines of social mobility for young people. National data on progression to higher education in 2010 show that :

• Just 10 London sixth forms accounted for over 10% of all young people eligible for free school meals in England progressing to university and 25% of the total in London. 5 of these 10 are sixth form colleges. See table 1.

• Just 5 inner London sixth forms accounted for over 30% of all young people eligible for free school meals in inner London progressing to university. 3 of these 5 are sixth form colleges. See table 2.

• A higher proportion of young people eligible for free school meals progressed to university from these sixth forms than across London which itself had a FSM progression rate well above that for England as a whole. See tables 1 and 2.

• These sixth forms are getting disadvantaged students into selective universities at a higher rate than across England as a whole. See table 3.

Table 1. Top 10 London sixth forms for FSM students progression to HE

Table 2. Top 5 inner London sixth forms for FSM students progression to HE

Table 3. Proportion of FSM students progressing to “top third” universities

There have been 3 more years of university progression since 2010 so we clearly need more up-to-date figures to see any London-wide trends. Recent data for Newham sixth form college (NewVIc) show a strong increase in both the numbers and the proportion progressing since 2010, including to the most selective universities.

Recent years have seen the creation of many new sixth forms, some via convertor academies and some via free schools, often with substantial start-up costs and vacant funded places. Many of these new providers aim to increase the numbers of disadvantaged young people progressing to university. In London, the evidence is that there are many existing providers with an excellent track record of doing exactly this. So, in a recession, why establish so many expensive new sixth forms rather than seeking to build on the success stories we already have?

Notes:

The data are from gov.uk “Destinations of key stage 4 and key stage 5 pupils by characteristics: academic year 2010 to 2011”. Students are those who entered advanced qualifications drawn from the National Pupil Database and matched to HESA higher education data. The top third selective universities were the most selective universities in the UK based on the A level tariff score of their entrants in 2010/11.