MOVES to cherry-pick the brightest children in England’s state schools from the age of 11 for places at top universities are set to begin within weeks, The Times has learnt.

The controversial plan, which will spark fears among Labour MPs of a new system of “super-selection”, is hailed by academics as a way of opening up university admissions without lowering standards.

But critics fear that students who develop later will be left out because the process hinges on tests in the final year of primary school.

Universities will be encouraged to select the brightest children by establishing early links with them.

In coming weeks, secondary heads will be told the names of the cleverest pupils and that they will be held accountable if their students fail to get three A grades at A level.

Leading universities will be asked to contact the children’s families, urging them to join holiday courses or summer schools, with a view to applying later.

The move, which turns the final-year primary school exam in effect into a university entrance test, is expected to be welcomed by the top universities anxious that wider access does not lower academic standards.

Critics will ask whether the national curriculum test is the best measure of a child’s potential and point to the impact it will have on pupils who fail to make the grade.

The revelation will also fuel fears of academic selection as Tony Blair prepares to publish the education Bill and makes a last-ditch case today for his reforms at a seminar in Downing Street. Labour rebels and unions fear that it could mean back-door selection at the expense of the worst off.

One backbencher said last night that it was impossible to track a child’s potential from such an early age.

The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, which is coordinating the register, is set to tell heads how many of England’s top 5 per cent are in their schools and what they are expected to do to support them.

The talent search has identified 180,000 children aged 11-17 from their Key Stage 2 exams, taken by all pupils attending state primary schools.

Sir Cyril Taylor, chairman of the trust, is determined that no child should be overlooked as a result of a poor secondary school education.

In the letter, he will tell heads: “We’d be grateful if you’d ensure they’re given the necessary support to realise their potential and we’re going to track these children independently at KS3, GCSE and A levels. And if these children don’t get 3 As at A level we want to know the reason why. Because they should but the facts are that only about a third of them are.”

Schools will be held accountable after studies showed that the top 5 per cent of 11-year-olds who go on to state school are half as likely to get three As as those who enter private schools.

Heads will be urged to register the names with the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (Nagty) at Warwick University, which will act as a pool to coordinate support programmes.

“What they don’t want to be told is to lower their admission standards to meet some strange quota of comprehensive school intakes. I passionately believe you should only get into Oxford and Cambridge if you’ve qualified,” said Sir Cyril. “But what is an outrage is that we have 20,000 very able children in comprehensives who don’t get the three As at A level that they should do.”

If parents give the academy permission, pupils’ details will be passed on to universities. Data protection rules will be amended to enable this.

The colleges at Cambridge have divided up England’s regions between them and will contact the academy for the names of children in their area. Dr Geoff Parks, the admissions tutor, says that this will be fairer. “At the moment, it’s a bit hit and miss . . . we’re targeting some schools in given areas, but it could be more effective. Anecdotally, there are concerns that some schools are offering us the best behaved and not putting forward the most talented who can often be the most difficult,” he said.

Dr Parks, who is a member of the Nagty Friends Group, conceded that the Key Stage 2 test was “not perfect”.

Many private schools opt out of the final-year tests, leading to fears that pupils could be frozen out of the best universities.

Ian Gibson, the rebel Labour MP for Norwich North, said that the education Bill would still mean “back-door selection”.

Times recommends

• University black hole as applicants surge
• Students to be offered 'no-fee degrees'
• Women are outperforming men at university