GRAMMAR schools are "ghettos for the advantaged" that do little to help the most disadvantaged children, a leading academic has claimed.

Professor David Jesson, of York University, said his research had shown that claims that selective schools benefited pupils from poorer and more deprived backgrounds were wide of the mark.

His study of the country's remaining 164 grammars, including the 33 in Kent and Medway, showed that just two per cent of pupils qualified for free school meals at grammars compared with 13 per cent at non-selective schools.

The findings mirror statistics released by Kent County Council to the Kent Messenger Group earlier this year under the Freedom of Information Act. They showed that nearly five times as many pupils qualified for free school meals at Kent's non-selective schools than did at its grammar schools.

Professor Jesson, who said as many at a third of pupils going to grammars came from fee-paying schools, said: "Far from providing ladders of opportunity for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, grammar schools are more like ghettos of the advantaged.

"In fact, their recruitment policies tend to favour pupils from more prosperous communities, where eligibility for free school meals and other measures of deprivation are at very low levels."

County education chiefs have vowed to do more to encourage poorer pupils to take the 11-plus.

Cllr Chris Wells (Con) KCC's cabinet member for education, said he did not disagree with Professor Jesson.

"We cannot hide the fact that it requires considerable efforts from parents who come from more disadvantaged areas to get their children into grammar schools. That is a bridge we have to cross," he said.

Asked if he agreed with the description of some grammars as "ghettos for the advantaged", he said: "Yes. You cannot miss it if you look at some of the schools - it is absolutely true. Their intake does not reflect the wider population around them but just a part of it."

But he said the solution was to find ways of getting more children from less well-off backgrounds into grammars, rather than abolishing them.

The Conservative party abandoned its long-standing support for grammars earlier this year, saying they "entrenched advantage".

Labour KCC education spokesman Cllr Christine Angell said: "I believe grammar schools are divisive within their communities, with children travelling for miles to attend these 'ghettos for the advantaged'.

"The sooner children can attend their local excellent secondary school the better for communities, schools and most importantly children."

Martin Frey, of the Kent campaign group Stop The Eleven Plus (STEP) said: "The only solution to this issue is to dismantle the selective system.

"This research reinforces everything that we have been saying for years. The county council's approach is to to ignore the interests of the vast majority of parents."