Research summary · Everyone · England
Grammar schools and social mobility: what the research found
A summary of the Education Policy Institute’s 2016 analysis of grammar schools, attainment and disadvantaged pupils.
By the Pyxion Learn team · Checked 30 October 2026
Few questions in English education are argued about as much as grammar schools. In 2016 the Education Policy Institute (EPI), an independent research institute, published a widely cited analysis. Its main findings:
Who attends
In the EPI’s analysis, 2.5% of grammar school pupils were entitled to free school meals, against 13.2% across all state-funded secondary schools.
Results, once intake is taken into account
Grammar schools’ high raw results largely reflect their intake. After taking account of pupils’ prior attainment and background, the EPI found no overall effect on grades, positive or negative, for the pupils who attend them.
The gap between rich and poor
The attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and others was wider in highly selective areas than in non-selective ones. The EPI concluded that expanding selection where there are already many grammar schools would likely produce small losses for pupils who don’t get in, with the poorest children most affected.
How to read this
- The study is from 2016. Some grammar schools have since changed their admissions to prioritise disadvantaged pupils who reach the qualifying score, and figures vary a lot from school to school. In our Birmingham and Lincolnshire comparison, the Birmingham grammars, all of which give priority to disadvantaged pupils, have a much higher share of pupils on free school meals than the Lincolnshire ones.
- Averages hide wide variation. For a particular family, what matters is the specific schools within reach and how places are allocated.
Source
Education Policy Institute, Grammar schools and social mobility (September 2016), epi.org.uk.