London has far and away more schools and pupils than any other English conurbation, with over 400,000 secondary and 600,000 primary pupils. There are over 400 secondary and 1800 maintained primary schools. London also has half of England’s Academies and City Technology Colleges, and over a fifth of the country’s private schools.

The school system in the capital is not only bigger but more diverse than in other major urban areas, with high proportions of faith schools, single sex schools and foundation schools. Moreover, governance arrangements are more complex than in other cities, with 33 local authorities each having responsibility for education in their own borough.

LERU will be exploring the implications of this school system in a variety of ways. In our first edition of London Figures, we looked at the relationship between diversity of provision and social sorting in London’s secondary schools. Click here to access the report, and here for the background figures. 

LERU has been involved in conferences about London's school system in 2007, in collaboration with the Mayor's Office, and in 2009. For details see our Previous events, especially Geoff Whitty's presentation on social class and education policy.