Chris Ramsey, head of the £37,860-a-year Whitgift School in south London, said that Russell Group institutions are increasingly giving places to 18-year-olds regardless of whether they meet their offers or not.
Mr Ramsey, who chairs the universities committee at the Headmasters’ and Headmistress’ Conference (HMC), said that there is growing concern among schools about the practise.
“The biggest gap at my schools was five grades down from the offer admitted,” he told headteachers at the annual HMC conference in Manchester.
“We had plenty of fives across HMC schools, fours were commonplace, threes, twos.” He said that in the past two to three years, there has been an increase in the number of students being accepted to their universities of choice despite missing their offer. Read More.