An exclusive analysis by the Guardian reveals that children in the top 250 British private schools have 10 times more open space than children attending state schools.
The analysis found that an Eton fee-earning student had access to 140 times more green space than the average British state school student. Experts condemned “staggering” and “gross” inequalities.
The Guardian has mapped the land owned and used by the country’s top private schools; This field has never been established before. The analysis, which used publicly available information alongside satellite instruments to map school buildings and green spaces, found that:
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The average student at one of the UK’s top private schools has access to around 322m2 of green space, while the average state school student has access to around 32m2 of green space: a ratio of 10:1.
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Eton students have the largest land area of any school in the country; school children have access to 4,445 square meters of space per student; This is 140 times greater than what the average public school student has access to. Some of these lands are also open to public use.
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Private school campuses feature tennis courts, golf courses, boating lakes, swimming pools, equestrian centers, wilderness areas, and remote camping cabins.
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In contrast, some public schools have little or no green space for their students.
The findings are a reminder of the deep divide between the two parties as the UK heads to the polling booths to choose between the Conservatives and Labor, which has vowed to scrap the VAT exemption on independent school fees despite some powerful lobbying from the industry. the early experiences of children from wealthy families and the rest of the population; Only 7% of children attend an independent school.
“The inequalities in access to green space between independent and state schools are staggering, if not surprising,” said Prof Michael Marmot, director of the UCL Health Equity Institute and author of the groundbreaking Fair Society Healthy Lives report in 2010. (more commonly referred to as the Marmot review).
“Eton’s playing fields may be a worn-out cliché; The lack of playgrounds at your local public school is an ever-present reality.”
As part of our access to green space series, we explore how much space our children have at school and how much time they have to enjoy it. Over several months, our data team compiled detailed information on the amount of land owned by England’s top private schools and then used satellite data and a range of other variables to calculate how much of this space students had access to.
We also looked at the amount of open space in state schools in England and spoke to experts about some of the issues our children face. As Tina Farr from St Ebbes primary school in Oxford told us: “We need to start leading schools towards healthy child development. “We can give them six hours of nurturing time a day, and we absolutely should.”
The Guardian analyzed all British schools in the Heads’ Conference (HMC), which consists of heads of the UK’s top private fee-paying day and boarding schools, also defined as state schools or independent schools. He calculated on-campus green space as open space owned by the school and within a 3-mile (5 km) radius and therefore accessible to students.
Winchester college, where current chancellor Rishi Sunak went to school, has more than 8,000 acres of land in total but is second to none for students, with students only having access to around 250 acres of land, according to its website. the rest appears to be land ownership. Eton’s campus covers 1,666 acres, of which students have access to just under 1,500 acres.
Lord Wandsworth college has the third largest amount of land, with a 1,079-acre campus comprising 1,027 acres of green space, 5 km from the school.
Stonyhurst has 1,050 campus acres, Stowe has 850 acres, and Radley College has 847 campuses.
In total, schools own 38,086 acres (154.1 million m2) of land, of which 19,430 acres (78.6 million m2) are accessible to students, according to the Guardian analysis.
Close to 245,000 students attended these private schools in the 2021/22 academic year; This means that each student is provided with an average of 322 m2 of green space. This is likely to be a conservative estimate.
Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of National Education, there are 263,300,000 m2 of green areas and playgrounds in public schools; This is 32 square meters for each student; This calculation is based on the average number of students enrolled in public schools between 2017 and 2021 (range 8). million and 9 million per year). Private school students have access to 10 times more open space than state schools, according to the Guardian’s calculations.
HMC’s 250 members, reviewed by the Guardian, make the most of this land; They place a heavy emphasis on sports, outdoor activities and the importance of outdoor living in their curriculum and sales materials. Eton tells prospective students’ parents that “we believe that boys learn as much, if not more, outside the classroom than they do in it.” The rugby school says its educational model is one in which “all aspects of life, academic and artistic, spiritual and sporting, form part of an indivisible whole”.
But some public schools have little or no green space for their students, but in those that do, budget constraints and curriculum demands often mean sports and other outdoor activities can’t be prioritized in the same way, experts said. Guardian.
Marmot said unequal access to green space is likely to have a profound impact on children’s mental and physical well-being, noting evidence that exercising in green space improves mental health and reduces inequalities in deaths, and may also lead to increased rates of childhood obesity. “A school with limited access to playing fields or open space will face a much greater challenge in embedding exercise into children’s lives,” he said.
He added: “What impact does it have on a child or young person to know that independent school students are privileged in almost every way, including access to green space? Differential access to green space is another aspect in which state school students are relatively disadvantaged.”
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Studies have shown the cognitive boost that green surroundings provide children, and a Belgian study linked green space to higher IQs. “There is increasing evidence that the green environment is associated with our cognitive functions, such as memory skills and attention,” said Tim Nawrot, a professor of environmental epidemiology at the University of Hasselt in Belgium, who worked on this study.
Lack of green space for children is a health and equality issue, according to Dan Paskins, Save the Children’s UK impact director. “This new analysis from the Guardian reveals huge inequality in the school system and it is an issue we are deeply concerned about. Given that a child’s right to play is also supported in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the UK signed 34 years ago, the UK government must urgently look at how it can significantly improve access to green spaces for school children from all economic countries. background.”
President of the Royal College of Physicians, Dr. Ministers must take urgent action to increase access to green space for state school students, Sarah Clarke said. “This research provides another clear example of how some people in society, through no fault of their own, are not fully making the healthy choices that will help them live healthy lives. Everything from where we live to the food we eat to the air we breathe directly affects our health, and access to the outdoors is no different.” ”
The Guardian contacted all the private schools mentioned in this article. Those who responded to us told us that providing green space for less privileged children was a priority and gave varying degrees of examples of how they were doing this. Eton told us that most of its land was either agricultural or “open space for the benefit of the whole community”. Winchester says it has a wide range of community connections, including volunteer programs with various local schools, and hosts numerous events on its premises.
Lord Wandsworth College partners with many local schools; As well as making its facilities and green spaces available to local families and schools, Stonyhurst runs collaborative initiatives and “encourages community engagement beyond traditional academic activities”. Stowe said that all opportunities can be taken advantage of by visiting clubs and schools: “Every child deserves an excellent education and a good start in life, and we are determined to reduce social inequality. To that end, Stowe has established transformative partnerships with a growing network of organizations.”
Neither HMC nor the Department for Education commented.