Private school head demands the return of assisted places

Bright children whose parents cannot afford a private education should have their fees paid with public money, a leading headteacher said today.

Barry Martin, head of the independent Hampton School, called for a revival of the assisted places scheme that Labour abolished as too "elitist" in 1997. He said such a move would help more working-class students enter highly selective universities like Oxford and Cambridge.

Mr Martin was speaking after his boys' school topped this year's Evening Standard league table with the best A-level results in London. On average, Hampton pupils achieved nearly five A-grades each.

But independent schools have been under mounting pressure to prove they do not operate as "exclusive clubs" for children of the rich. New charity laws require they exist for the wider "public benefit".

At the same time, ministers have criticised Oxford and other highly academic universities for failing to take more working-class students. Mr Martin said a solution would be to "open up the schools that are doing really well".

"We would be very open to a system whereby the Government funded places here so we could open the school up," he said. "But we would have to have the right to select boys who are suitable to benefit from what we have to offer.

"If we want the universities to be taking people to read demanding academic subjects from a wide social base, then we have got to have a wide social base going through the system." Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government established the assisted places scheme. By the mid-Eighties, some 6,000 pupils a year were enrolled on free or subsidised places. In 1997 Tony Blair scrapped assisted places and invested the money saved in cutting primary school class sizes.

Mr Martin warned Hampton was prepared to consider ditching

A-levels if new rival courses offered a better preparation for university. The Cambridge Pre-U diploma and International Baccalaureate may be suitable for some pupils, he said. At the moment, however, A-levels are doing their job for Hampton boys — a record number of whom secured offers from Oxbridge.

"A-levels have undoubtedly changed," Mr Martin said. "What's gone amiss in the recent past is that with the expansion of the number of people getting A-grades, it has not been possible for really bright kids to differentiate themselves."

He welcomed reforms including tougher A-level questions, an ex-tended project and a new A*-grade.

But he criticised suggestions that top universities may ignore the A* for political reasons. There are fears a disproportionate number of private school pupils will achieve A*.