As university admissions have become increasingly obsessed with equal outcomes, many parents fear a kind of reverse discrimination. They worry that a Ucas form bearing the name of an independent school may be bad news for an Oxbridge application. There’s evidence to suggest they’re right. Private-school pupils who transfer to state education after their GCSEs are up to a third more likely to be admitted to Cambridge. Children who remained at private school for A-levels had an acceptance rate of 19 per cent, compared with 25 per cent for those who moved to a grammar school or state sixth form college.

Given the assumed prejudice against private school applicants, a recent move by one Cambridge college has surprised many. After decades of commitment to various diversity and equality schemes, fellows at Trinity Hall approved a ‘targeted recruitment’ strategy to encourage applications from some of the best independent schools in England.

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Marcus Tomalin, Trinity Hall’s director of admissions, argued that when it comes to certain subjects, such as languages, music and classics, ‘the best students from such schools arrive at Cambridge with expertise and interests that align well with the intellectual demands’. It approached 50 schools, including St Paul’s Girls, Eton and Winchester.

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