Private schools failing to recruit working-class white boys Headmasters said that the apathy shown towards education in some areas was making it difficult to fill free and subsidised places. Richard Russell, head of Colfe's School in Lee, south London, said he was "seeing a lot of aspiration" among pupils from poor areas "but it's 90 per cent Afro-Caribbean." "It's these little skinheads with the St George's cross tattoos who come from families where maybe nobody has worked; I don't think we are getting to the white working class as successfully as we should," he said. Speaking to the Times Educational Supplement, he added: "These are huge generalisations, but the white working-class are not as spontaneously interested in success and upward mobility as I am seeing from the Afro-Caribbean, Eastern European and Asian families. There are plenty of white kids out there; some of them must be bright. We see plenty of white working-class boys and girls around the place, but a genuine concern is they are not aiming high enough. So often the bursary candidate has a very strong parent behind him or her. According to figures, children from the poorest homes - those eligible for free school meals - currently fall behind wealthier classmates throughout compulsory education. Last year, just a third of these pupils gained five good GCSEs, including the core subjects of English and mathematics, compared with some 62 per cent of other children. White British boys eligible for free meals officially performed worse than any other group - aside from gypsy and traveller children - with fewer than 29 per cent gaining good grades. The Sutton Trust, a charity campaigning for improved social mobility, has called for the Government to provide subsidised places at independent day schools. But speaking at the HMC annual conference in Belfast this week, Joe Spence, headmaster of Dulwich College, south London, said efforts should be put into raising aspirations in poor communities. "Shouldn't we be talking about aspiration?" he said. We have masses of Asian candidates for our scholarships, Afghan refugees, but it is difficult to find white working-class boys.