One third of admissions to Oxbridge come from just 3 per cent of elite independent schools, which appear to be tightening their stranglehold on top university places.

Research published today has uncovered huge discrepancies between the number of places awarded at the best universities to state and to privately-educated pupils with similar A-level results. It indicates that leading institutions are failing in their drive to boost state-school intake and erase their “old school tie” image.

Sir Peter Lampl, the chairman of the Sutton Trust, an educational charity that compiled the figures, said: “Universities need to recognise the unevenness of the system from which applicants are drawn. They should be about nurturing and developing talent, not honing a finished product.”

Five schools alone accounted for 4 per cent of all students starting at Oxford and Cambridge in the past five years, according to the research.

The proportion of teenagers going to Oxbridge from the top 30 independent schools was nearly twice that of the leading 30 grammar schools.

And at the 30 best comprehensive schools, less than a third of the expected number of pupils were admitted to Oxbridge, given the schools’ average A-level results.

Westminster School sent 49.9 per cent of its leavers to Oxbridge, closely followed by St Paul’s Girls’ School, Winchester College, Wycombe Abbey School and St Paul’s School.

Eton College and Cheltenham Ladies’ College are also in the top 30, which includes just one comprehensive school – London Oratory, where Tony Blair sent two of his children.

The trust analysed the academic destinations of more than one million A-level students. It has pledged £10 million over the next five years in an attempt to widen the access of leading universities. It will fund schemes such as summer schools.

Sir Peter said: “Social mobility in this country has declined. It’s not a good situation. Efforts should be made to open up day independent schools in a meaningful way, not just a few places. Grammar schools should be doing more to widen their base. There are a lot of bright children in comprehensives that are not getting a fair choice. We are challenging the Government, universities and schools to come up with good ideas about how to tackle this. There is no magic bullet.”

He said that encouraging aspiration was an issue, as was whether state school pupils offered the same “soft skills” or breadth of knowledge.

Rigorous coaching for Oxbridge interviews is organised by some independent schools, much more of whom apply than state school students.

Sir Peter added: “There is a different admissions procedure for Oxbridge which is daunting for children from comprehensives. Independent schools are better at preparing candidates. Bright state pupils could be taken under the wing of top schools.”Mike Nicholson, the director of undergraduate admissions at Oxford, said: “We are now doing a lot of work to widen participation, engaging students from quite an early age. It’s a long-term project and you don’t see immediate results.

“This could be seen as quite a fundamental issue about access to schooling, not necessarily about admissions to higher education.”

Going up

Westminster School 49.9%

St Paul’s Girls’ School 49%

Winchester College 36

Wycombe Abbey School 35.1%

St Paul’s School 33%

Eton College 32.4%

North London Collegiate Sch 30.5%

Perse School for Girls 29.3%

Haberdashers’Aske’s School for Girls 29.3%

Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe* 27.1%

Oxford High School 25.5%

Perse School 23.5%

Magdalen College School 23.2%

Withington Girls’ School 22.6%

Manchester Grammar School 22.4%

Tonbridge School 21.9%

Royal Grammar School, Guildford 21.6%

South Hampstead High Sch 21.2%

Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School 21%

King’s College School 20.9%

London Oratory School** 20.6%

Lady Eleanor Holles School 20.4%

Abingdon School 20.3%

City of London School for Girls 20.2%

James Allen’s Girls’ School 19.8%

School of St Helen and St Katherine 19.7%

Colchester Royal Grammar School* 19.5%

King Edward’s School, Birmingham 19.3%

Cheltenham Ladies’ College 19.3%

St Mary’s School, Ascot 19.1

All are independent except for: *Selective ** Comprehensive

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