A private school teaming up with an academy trust to open elite sixth forms in deprived parts of England has promised a 鈥渓aser-like focus鈥� on ensuring poorer children benefit. have commissioned academics to 鈥渞oad-test鈥� admissions鈥� policies, and say an outreach programme in the areas where the schools are proposed will target pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. The two organisations submitted bids to open new selective sixth forms in Dudley, Middlesbrough and Oldham. Ministers have said they want to see a wave of elite post-16 institutions across England as part of the 鈥渓evelling-up鈥� agenda. But campaigners warned earlier this year that the new settings would lead to 鈥渟election for a lucky few and rejection for the majority鈥� after a study found elite sixth forms taught few poorer pupils and recruited heavily from neighbouring areas. Challenged by Schools Week at the Schools and Academies Show about how the new schools would avoid these problems, Tom Arbuthnott, Eton鈥檚 deputy head, said the two organisations had a 鈥渓aser-like focus on the kind of kids that we want to help鈥�. This included recipients of the pupil premium and those who would be the first in their families to go to university. Arbuthnott said it was 鈥減remature鈥� to set out the proposed schools鈥� admissions policies, but said Eton and Star were working with the Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities at UCL. Academics ‘road-testing’ admissions policies 鈥淲e’ve asked them what we can do in terms of our post-16 admissions policy to make sure that the project is focused on the kids who really need our help. 鈥淭hey’re currently doing a phase two of that project where they’re interrogating the pupil database to road-test potential policies.鈥� But he admitted that target pupils 鈥渕ay not necessarily be in the exact localities that we’re talking about鈥ecause in a sense, our strategy is regional鈥�. Schools Week revealed earlier this year that FFT Education Datalab analysis found that 6 per cent of pupils attending the most selective sixth forms outside London were disadvantaged, compared with a national average of 17 per cent of all year 12 pupils. Meanwhile, just 60 per cent of pupils at such schools lived in the same local authority area, compared with 82 per cent across all sixth forms. According to Arbuthnott, the two organisations would also run an 鈥渙utreach programme鈥� in the three areas, which all have 鈥渓ots of 11-16 schools鈥�. This would aim to 鈥渋dentify bright kids in those 11-16 schools and to start working with them at the age of 13, 14 to start raising eyes from the ground, to start getting them to think about their pathway into high top-tier universities鈥�. Eton-X, the private school鈥檚 online learning platform, which was rolled out free to state schools during the pandemic, would be a 鈥渧ery successful part of that outreach model鈥�, Arbuthnott said.