A survey of school leaders by the social mobility charity found that the top 500 secondary schools admit just half as many disadvantaged pupils with SEND as the average comprehensive, and 36% fewer than live within their catchment area.

The polling suggests this is sometimes deliberate, with 41% believing some schools in their area actively discourage applications from pupils with SEND. That figure rises to 50% among leaders in schools with the highest proportion of SEND pupils.

School leaders cited a need for more teachers and teaching assistants (66%), greater specialist support (58%) and better SEND training (28%) as the measures most likely to help them educate more SEND pupils.

Nick Harrison, chief executive of the Sutton Trust, said: ‘It's appalling that many of the top performing schools take in a lower proportion of SEND pupils than live in their catchment area. This amounts to further social segregation of the school system, and risks entrenching the double disadvantage faced by low-income families whose children also have SEND needs.'