Students at a London state school have received more offers from Oxbridge than Eton College for the first time, The Daily Telegraph reports.
The news comes amid a drive by the country’s leading universities to increase the proportion of students coming from less privileged backgrounds.
Fifty-five teenagers at Brampton Manor Academy in Newham, east London, have been offered places to study at Oxbridge this autumn. Entry to the sixth form at the school is highly competitive and students must have a 6.5 average point score across all their GCSEs to be considered for admission.
The sixth form attracts up to 3,000 applications for 300 places each year. Some of its students travel up to two hours each way to attend, The Guardian reported in 2019.
By contrast, Eton College – which has a similar sized sixth form – had just 48 offers this year, down from 99 five years ago.
Oxford has increased the proportion of students it takes from state schools from 55.6 per cent in 2015 to 68.7 per cent this year. Cambridge leads the way though, lifting numbers from 62.3 per cent to 70 per cent over the same period.
Brampton Manor is situated in one of the poorest parts of London and two thirds of students qualify for free school meals.
The school’s headmaster, Dr Dayo Olukosh, has said that his pupils are “just as capable as their more privileged peers in other parts of the country”.