A PRIVATE school near Windsor has been given the green light to open free selective sixth-form colleges in disadvantaged areas.

Eton College and academy trust Star Academies will set up three state sixth forms in Dudley, Middlesbrough and Oldham after the Department for Education (DfE) approved the plans.

The age 16-19 free schools, which will be called Eton Star Dudley, Eton Star Oldham and Eton Star Teesside, will aim to recruit young people from deprived communities and help them secure places at top universities.

Eton College, where many of the country’s prime ministers studied, will contribute approximately £1 million a year per college on top of current funding levels – which is about £2,000 per year for each student.

Students from the state sixth forms will also have a chance to attend a summer school each year at Eton College as part of the partnership.

It comes after Dudley, Middlesbrough and Oldham were all listed in the Government’s 55 education “cold spots” in England – those identified as having the weakest education outcomes – as part of its levelling up agenda.

Each Eton Star sixth-form college will admit 240 students a year, which means each college will have 480 students across Year 12 and Year 13 when full.

A spokesperson for Eton College and Star Academies said the aim is that most of the students will have the ability to aspire to top universities and “this will be reflected in the GCSE results they will need for admission”.

The colleges will be co-educational, unlike Eton, and the students will not wear the traditional Eton uniform of a black tailcoat, the spokesperson said.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said: “We want to make more good school places available to families, and these 15 new free schools will bring brand new opportunities to young people from Bradford to Bristol.

“Free schools bring high standards, more choice for parents and strong links to industry – and all in the areas where those opportunities are needed most.”

The DfE has approved 15 new free schools – which includes the three Eton Star sixth forms – in parts of the country where education outcomes are weakest, and it said about 12,000 young people will benefit.

A northern version of the Brit School, which has nurtured performers such as Adele and Amy Winehouse, is among the free school applications approved.

Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, said: “It is essential that any selective sixth form takes into account the extra challenges faced by all under-resourced pupils when selecting students – not just those on free school meals – otherwise it runs the risk of merely perpetuating educational inequalities.”