The Guardian publishes a response from ISC

7 March 2008

The Guardian has published a letter from Dr Timothy Hands, Master at Magdalen College School (sent to the Guardian by the Independent Schools Council) in response to the Guardian's 'Leading universities face cut in funds to recruit poor students' story.

The published version was a slightly edited version, under the heading 'Poor students and univeristy funding.'  It is not available online.

Letter to the Guardian 

With reference to your story (Leading universities face cut in funds to recruit poor students, March 6), one point that goes unrecognised in the debate over university admissions is that independent schools educate thousands of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. One in four children educated in the independent sector come from postcodes where income is at, or below, the national average and a third of all pupils at independent schools receive fee assistance.

Over 30,000 students took A-levels at ISC schools in 2007 with over 90% going on to higher education.

Independent schools are committed to widening access and are raising tens of millions of pounds to help children from all walks of life achieve excellent academic results and so gain entry to universities on merit. If the government wants to widen participation to the very best universities, perhaps it might look at ways better utilising independent schools to educate more children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Dr Timothy Hands, Master, Magdalen College School    

Sent on behalf of Tim Hands by:  

Independent Schools Council
30 Orange Street
London WC2H 7HH