Bradford Grammar School head teacher Stephen Davidson has urged elite universities to give pupils a fair crack of the whip when they apply for places.

Oxford and Cambridge universities have been accused of discriminating against pupils from independent schools to increase their intake from state schools.

But Mr Davidson said all students should be judged by their results.

He said the £5,000 a year school was not in the same league as Eton and Westminster schools, which charge as much as £15,000-£20,000 a year and have long had places unofficially guaranteed at the two top institutions.

And he said his school was probably more representative of its area than some high-flying state schools which drew their pupils entirely from middle class areas.

"Bradford Grammar School has a long- standing principle of social diversity, probably more so than some comprehensive maintained schools or selective grammar school in the leafy suburbs."

Mr Davidson said he believed none of his pupils had ever been discriminated against. "All that we ask for our boys and girls is that they are given a fair crack of the whip," he said.

Charlotte Burnett, a 17-year-old pupil at the school, is expecting straight As at A-level later this year, but was rejected by Worcester College, Oxford.

The Haworth teenager does not believe she lost out because of her background, but is concerned positive discrimination could be going on in other colleges at the university.

Carlton Bolling College student Mandeep Kaur, has accepted an offer of a place at Wadham College, Oxford, to read English. If she gets the required two As and a B, She will be the first pupil from the school to go up to Oxford in more than 10 years.

"I believe I was offered the place on my academic merits," said the 18-year-old, of Bradford Moor. At the interview they were not interested in what type of school I went to or my background."

However, Mandeep does believe some public schools see bright state school pupils like herself as a threat.

A spokesman for Oxford University said 47 per cent of their students came from the independent sector, compared to 44 per cent from the state sector.

There was a move to get more state school pupils into the university and she admitted tutors did bear in mind the school background of a candidate during the interview process.

"Our widely publicised access initiatives, such as summer schools for state school pupils and teachers, are aimed at encouraging increased applications from students from schools without a tradition of sending candidates to Oxford as there has been an imbalance in applications from the state and independent sector."

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