High exclusion levels at some of the new academies could be having a detrimental effect on neighbouring state schools, a report published today suggested.

A review of the Government’s academies programme, commissioned by the Sutton Trust, warned that the schools were not collaborating closely enough with others in their area, which was one of their original objectives.

The Institute of Education’s report concluded that the performance of academies so far has been “varied” and they may not always be the best way to improve school standards.

It raised concerns that in 2007, academies had much higher exclusion rates than other state schools in the same community. This, it said, “can have damaging effects on neighbouring schools if academies exclude more pupils but do not take excluded pupils from elsewhere in the authority”.

It has been argued that Academies have higher exclusion rates when they first open as headteachers seek to instil discipline and improve behaviour among pupils.

In March, Schools Secretary Ed Balls announced that all new Academies would be required to be part of “behaviour partnerships” with other schools in order to tackle misbehaviour - a move welcomed by the report authors. But they noted that 90 per cent of academies were now involved in these partnerships, compared to 97 per cent of other state schools.

The report recommended that academies’ admissions procedures should face closer scrutiny, to ensure they do not harm the intakes of other schools.

Last month, a Government-commissioned report found there were now three applications for every Year 7 place at an academy. While academies still take more pupils from the poorest homes than other schools, the overall proportion of poor pupils has shrunk, as more middle-class parents are choosing them for their children.

Today’s report noted that the percentage of pupils at academies who were eligible for free school meals has dropped 45.3 per cent in 2003 to 29 per cent in 2008.

Dr Lee Elliot Major, research director for the Sutton Trust, warned: “This is something that needs to be watched closely. It is good that Academies are attracting a wide range of pupils, but it is also important they reflect the local communities they serve. Poorer pupils deserve the chance to benefit from what are often excellent schools on their doorsteps.”

The report said: “At first sight this data is disturbing in that they seem to support the view that these schools have exploited their freedom to recruit affluent and more biddable pupils.”

The authors suggested that introducing area-wide “banding” would ensure that other schools were not harmed by having a successful academy nearby. “Fair banding” involves setting an academic ability test for primary school pupils who are applying for places at oversubscribed academies.

The academy then groups children into ability “bands” based on the test results and offers places to equal share of pupils from each band in order to create a thorough mix of abilities.

The report also raised concerns that the earliest three academies, opened in 2002, were still not seeing 30 per cent of their pupils achieving five good GCSE’s, including English and maths. This target has been set by the Government, with schools falling short made part of the National Challenge programme.

Under the programme, all state schools were warned they faced closure or being turned into an Academy if their scores did not improve and told they would receive extra funding to help boost their scores.

The report noted that GCSE results at academies were improving faster than the national average. But it added: “As Phase 1 academies have seen their first cohort go all the way through, it might be expected that they would now be hitting this target. However, none of the first three academies achieved this in 2007.”

The report concluded that the Government needed to “review and refine” the objectives of the academies programme, and said these schools were more likely to have influence in improving standards if they worked closer with neighbouring schools on issues such as behaviour and admissions.

It added: “Academies are in danger of being regarded by politicians as a panacea for a broad range of educational problems. Given the varied performance of academies to date, conversion to an academy may not always be the best route to improvement.”

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