The effect of changes in published secondary school admissions on pupil composition

Schools differ widely in the social composition of their intakes meaning that children from more affluent families tend to be educated separately from those less affluent. For these reasons admissions have been increasingly subject to regulation by successive Codes. This research investigates whether changes to the School Admissions Code in 2003 and 2007 concerning school admission arrangements appear to have had direct effects on the published admissions policies and the social composition of particular schools. The effect of these changes in the Code have been indirectly captured by three surveys of school admissions brochures carried out by teams at the LSE (for 2001 and 2008 entry) and Sheffield Hallam University (for 2006 entry). Whilst changes in admissions have been described by researchers, to date these three databases of admissions policies and procedures have not been analysed alongside each other.