The new policy – which would be enshrined in the admissions code used by schools to offer places – is set to spark allegations that the Coalition is seeking to socially-engineer the make-up of schools.

As a result, tens of thousands of middle-class families who have paid premium property prices to live in the catchment areas of popular schools could see themselves disappointed when applying for places.

However, Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, believes the move may be necessary to reverse the growing educational gap between the richest and poorest children in Britain. The gap widened under the Labour Government.

The policy is initially being considered for the new generation of state-funded free schools and academies. However, if it is introduced and proves successful, experts believe it is likely to spread to all schools.

Mr Gove, who is fearful of a middle-class backlash against the scheme, is still considering the plans and has asked education officials to draw up proposals for how it may work in practice.

A source close to the Education Secretary said the scheme was under consideration.

“The central aim of the Government’s education policy is making opportunity more equal,” the source said. “We have one of the most segregated and stratified education systems in the world.

“We’re putting in place a range of policies to help every child do better. As part of our commitment to helping every child do better we’re introducing a pupil premium – which will mean more cash for the poorest children in all our schools.”

The source added: “We’re exploring how schools which wish to target their efforts on helping the poorest can be helped. We want to emulate the success of the KIPP charter schools in America which explicitly target their attention on poorer children.”

The new planned admissions policy would complement the Coalition’s plan to introduce a so-called “pupil premium” from next year.

The pupil premium is to be paid to schools for each poorer student they take on from autumn 2011. The level of the premium is still being negotiated between the Treasury and Education department but the Liberal Democrats have called for a budget of about £2.5 billion annually for the scheme.

Typically, state schools receive £4,000 in direct funding for each pupil they take. Under this scheme they could be paid around £6,000 for each pupil they admit who receives free school meals.

It could benefit up to one million children whose families earn less than £16,000 a year and give schools up to 50 percent more funding for the education of poorer pupils. They would be free to spend the money as they wished.

The new admissions policy would allow them to actively seek to recruit the most disadvantaged children and they would have a major financial incentive to do so.

It would be up to individual schools whether they want to introduce the new policy and would not be imposed by Whitehall.

On Monday night it was not clear how much freedom new schools and academies may be given to target the poorest children. They may only be permitted to offer preferential access to poorer pupils within existing catchment areas.

However, a more radical policy would allow those on free school meals who live outside a school’s catchment area to benefit.

The planned policy is likely to prove controversial with middle-class parents.

John Chard, founder of School Appeals, which advises parents on admissions, said: “Politicians have been trying to stop middle-class parents monopolising the best schools for some time but I think we are getting into quite dangerous territory here.

“If you give children on free school meals complete priority it could very quickly change the face of a school. What happens if you have 240 places available and 300 applications from children eligible for free meals? They will have to have limits on the number of these children if they don’t want to cause real problems for other parents.”

Mr Gove is expected to study the options before deciding whether to include the new rules in an education white paper to be introduced to Parliament later this year.

The new Education Secretary has repeatedly expressed his concerns over the fate of the poorest students in British schools. By the age of seven, those on free school meals are already 16 percent less likely to be reading at the expected level than other children.

At GCSE, just 27 per cent of “free school meal” children achieve five A-C grades, compared to 54 percent of children from more affluent backgrounds. The chances of those going to university are miniscule compared to those who are privately educated.

Next week, the Education Secretary will meet with George Osborne, the Chancellor, to negotiate future funding for schools. The education budget faces cutbacks of at least ten percent over the next three years.

However, plans to introduce the pupil premium and help poorer students will be protected. They are a flagship Government policy which is being heavily backed by Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister.

After seven months of pounding out teacher recruiting strategies and ways to make tenure meaningful, Memphis City Schools invited outsiders in Friday to see the results (and the places they might expect to stub their toes).

Nearly 300 accepted the invitation, largely from the five-state area, although the roster included experts from Carnegie Foundation, Harvard and the heads of New Leaders for New Schools and The New Teacher Project, both nationally recognized reform groups.

“Yes, we won the Gates grant, but there are other cities that have similar issues that Memphis has,” said district spokesman Quintin Taylor.

“We have an obligation to share and exchange good ideas amongst each other and not work in a vacuum.”

“Districts generally look inward,” said Tim Daly, president of The New Teacher Project, praising the city schools system for its openness.

While the outcome of the reform is unknown, “I think everyone here knows Memphis has taken the step.”

The centerpiece of discussion was MCS’s $90 million blueprint (funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) to improve how teachers are hired, promoted and paid.

This year, for instance, MCS filled vacancies in the most troubled schools first, presumably giving students there a crack at the best hires. Since few teachers with high seniority wanted to move to those schools, there were few seniority squabbles.

As the district expands the arc of need, more contention is expected.

Friday, Daly was one of three “thought leaders” in a free-ranging workshop discussion on making smarter teacher-hiring decisions, a central plank of the Memphis plan.

“Was there anything worse than you expected?” he asked people on the frontlines here.

“No, not so much. But wait until next year,” said Chantay Branch, MCS facilitator in the discussion.

Memphis teachers are deeply wedded to a seniority system that rewards them with first pick of job openings, she said. If more of those openings go to new hires, the calm of this year’s hiring season could change, she said.

Participants came from as far away as Denver and Boston.

“It’s important to go to places where you can see the vision,” said Brenda Bowles, assistant superintendent in Pulaski County Special School District in Little Rock. “If you can’t see it, you can’t conceive it.”

MCS invited leaders from 26 districts; 19 accepted. Food, lodging and registration for nearly 300 people was covered by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The hiring hitch was a new state rule that forced Tennessee districts to replace principals who’ve spent two or more years in a failing school.

Hundreds of teachers leery of an unknown principal pressed for transfers, moving the number of Human Resources “touches” from an expected 700 to 1,675 — more than 600 of them internal transfers.

Instead of opening school this fall with every classroom staffed, the crunch meant 125 classes had no teacher, including English and math classes at Central High, where some students still do not have desks.

By July and August, there were still 569 vacancies — including “last-minute retirements and resignations,” said Victoria Van Cleef, with The New Teacher Project, in charge of MCS teacher recruiting and hiring.

“But 59 percent (of the openings) come from things we can work with,” Van Cleef said, including when teachers give notice of plans to leave.

The three-day conference wraps up today at the FedEx Institute of Technology.

The Telegraph understands that the Government will signal a shift away from Labour’s attempts to present vocational subjects as “pseudo academic” courses that focus on the theory behind key trades.

They want more students to “get their hands dirty” by taking part in on-the-job training and practical courses staged in specially-designed Studio Schools and University Technical Colleges.

The review will be led by Alison Wolf, professor of public sector management at King’s College London.

It comes just days after Mr Gove announced plans to bolster academic secondary school subjects by introducing a new English Baccalaureate. Under proposals, pupils will be expected to gain at least five C grade GCSEs in subjects including English literature, maths, science, foreign or ancient languages and humanities to gain the new certificate.

The Coalition will today attempt to strengthen vocational subjects which they claim have been undermined by 13 years of Labour.

Currently, courses are given the same weighting as academic subjects in school league tables. This has seen their popularity boom, with 540,000 entries recorded in 2008 compared with 22,500 five years earlier.

Last year, more than 64,000 16-year-olds took an IT course which is worth the same as a GCSE but takes far less time to teach.

But the Government claim some of these courses are of questionable value – and too focused on classroom tuition – meaning they fail to properly prepare students for a career in the workplace.

Prof Wolf’s review will assess how vocational courses fit into league tables and whether an “official quality benchmark” should be drawn up to regulate these qualifications.

It will look at the age in which pupils are expected to take certain practical courses, suggesting that some children could start them earlier as an alternative to academic study.

In a key move, it will assess the way vocational courses are taught and how they can be improved to meet the demands of businesses.

Ministers are believed to be keen on more students taking courses away from conventional schools to receive expert tuition.

Labour and the Conservatives have already backed plans for the creation of University Technical Colleges – the first of their kind since the 1950s.

Under plans, students aged 14 and over take GCSEs in core subjects including English, mathematics and science, along with courses in areas such as bricklaying, manufacturing, fashion and information technology.

The first UTC will open in 2012 in the West Midlands, sponsored and run by Aston University, with plans for more in Wolverhampton, Salford, Bradford, Leicester and Loughborough.

The Coalition is also backing Studio Schools, based on a similar model in which pupils take both practical and academic subjects. Six are due to open within the next two years.

   Folsom, also a PACT Board member, got an opinion from the attorney general’s office that said any mail-outs from PACT, which is overseen by Ivey’s office, could include the website address for Save Alabama Pact.

   The statewide grassroots group was credited convincing the Legislature to appropriate nearly $548 million over the next 17 years go to keep the state’s promise to pay tuition for 44,000 students.

   Huckaby and Lambert were both leaders in the Save Alabama Pact movement before they were appointed to the PACT Board.

   Huckaby said today that Ivey had fought the group at every step in gaining access to communicate with PACT contract holders through the treasurer’s office.

   “We asked her many many many times,” he said. “She had her general counsel write us and tell us she could not provide private information (in mail-outs),” he said. “We asked to be included in mailings and were denied that.”

   Finally, Huckaby said Folsom asked for the opinion from King’s office, which gave approval for Save Alabama Pact to have a link on the PACT site and be listed on all PACT mailings.

   Chip Hill, a spokesman for Folsom, said the lieutenant governor twice made motions that were approved by the PACT Board to include Save Alabama Pact’s contact information in all future PACT mailings.

   “I think everyone was under the impression that the treasurer would abide by the decision of the board,” he said. “I don’t understand why she continues to antagonize these parents.”

   Ivey is the Republican nominee facing Folsom in the lieutenant governor’s race in November.

   Huckaby said a critical financial report on the status of PACT that was mailed earlier this year did not include the Save Alabama Pact information, nor did an Aug. 21 mail-out on “New PACT Rules.”

   “Nothing has changed,” he said. “How critical is that in this point in time I don’t think she (Ivey) is attuned to PACT holders needs this year. Kay Ivey just doesn’t want to follow the lead set down in a motion passed by the Board of Directors.”

   Ivey did not immediately return a phone call, but Deputy Treasurer Vickie Locke said the office opted for a postcard size mailing to save money, limiting space for information.

   While the postcard did not carry the Save Alabama Pact website address, it did carry the website address for the PACT program, she said.

    “When a PACT purchaser follows that link, they are immediately directed to a page that has the Save Alabama Pact address prominently featured,” Locke added.

   Huckaby said he continues to receive e-mails daily from PACT-holders who don’t understand the impact of the new legislation.

   He said many of those questions could be answered by Save Alabama Pact, which will be returning to lobby the Legislature again in 2011.

   Lambert said she was disappointed in the treasurer’s inaction.

   “We fought hard for that and they used every excuse in the world,” she said. “It’s just kind of heartbreaking to me. Just another thing . . .”

    Huckaby and Lambert predicted the legislative fix in 2010 would be short-lived, mainly because of continuing double-digit tuition increases at Auburn University and the University of Alabama. Sixty-five percent of PACT-holders attend those two schools.

   Huckaby said under current conditions, tuition is probably guaranteed only through the 2014 or 2015 school year unless the Legislature makes further revisions in the 2010 law.

While most Memphis City Schools students reported for classes on the first day, Aug. 9, as many as 12 percent of the district’s pupils took their own sweet time showing up.

MCS reports that on Aug. 13, there were 92,378 students registered in K-12. By Aug. 31 that number had grown to 104,810.

It wasn’t a fluke. Numbers from 2009 show that by the fifth day of school 95,220 students were enrolled, a number that swelled to 105,685 on the 17th day.

Students will continue to “trickle in” after Labor Day, said Bill White, director of school choice and student accounting.

“It’s important to realize that the vast majority of our kids start on the first day,” White said. “But it is concerning that we have at least a few thousand apparently who take their time to some degree.”

Supt. Kriner Cash mentioned late starters at a recent school board meeting. He reported that parents who saw him out in public asked him when school was starting.

“It already had,” White said.

Some students hadn’t been counted on time because of slow data entries by MCS, White said, but the majority just didn’t register.

“I really don’t understand it,” he said. “I think it speaks in some situations to the lack of seriousness and commitment to education.”

School really does start on the first day, White said.

“We really do hit the ground running the first day,” he said. “So the students who do stay out until Labor Day, they’ve missed approximately 20 days of instruction.”

Those who dribble in also cause problems for students enrolled on time.

When classrooms are at legal capacity, the late arrivals can make it necessary to create new classes, requiring the on-time students to switch classes and teachers.

There has been speculation that some parents keep kids out of school because they don’t have uniforms.

“We have plenty of resources to help those parents with that situation,” White said. “So I would hope parents would not feel like they can’t get their children enrolled because of that.”

Late enrollment isn’t a problem with Shelby County Schools, where 99 percent of the expected students enrolled on the first day, said spokesman Mike Tebbe.

Save Tennessee Summers, part of a national movement called the Coalition for a Traditional School Year, supports a later start to the school year. But the grassroots organization wants it clear that it doesn’t support parents who keep their children out of school.

“You may disagree with something, but as parents we have to teach our children the right way in making change,” said national spokeswoman Tina Bruno. “And keeping your child out of the classroom is not one of them.”

MCS classes used to start later in August. But now that all the schools are air-conditioned, the need to finish the first semester in time for winter break and build adequate time in the school calendar for mandatory testing has led to an earlier school start, said spokeswoman Staci Franklin.

Bruno’s group believes none of those are valid reasons to send children to school in early August, when it’s expensive to cool the buildings.

The coalition says independent research shows that children in states with later start dates have higher mandatory test scores.

“The academic benefits that I can see is that the first couple of weeks they’re not focusing because it’s too hot,” said Deanna Walls, a local supporter of Save Tennessee Summers. The heat kept her two children, in kindergarten and first grade, inside all day at school without recess, she said.

“But I would never, ever think about holding them out of school because I didn’t like the start date. It is kind of crazy,” Walls said.

Students who don’t begin school on time can be considered truant and their parents could be sent to Juvenile Court, White said.

Frayser mom Tina Wells says the parents of late starters are negligent and should face charges.

“Our responsibility is to enroll our kids and send them to school,” said Wells, who has a 16-year-old in high school. “Our kids’ part is to go to school and learn to try to be better citizens in the world.”

When parents drop the ball?

“The ball should be dropped on the parents,” she said.