Lucy Powell famously dropped out of Oxford 'because it was too elitist'

Lucy Powell, who was made Andy Burnham's Education Secretary in July, famously dropped out of Oxford, claiming it was too elitist.

Born in Didsbury, the south Manchester suburb where she still lives, she attended Beaver Road primary and Parrs Wood High School. 

The latter is the alma mater of fellow Cabinet minister Lisa Nandy and was recently dubbed 'the new Eton' by the Manchester Evening News.

In yesterday's speech, Ms Powell, 52, revealed she is from a family of 'school leaders', and that being among academy heads felt like a 'family gathering'.

Her mother was a headteacher who led a multi-academy trust, while a grandfather, two aunts and an uncle were also heads – with one aunt awarded the CBE. 

Ms Powell took A-levels in maths, further maths, physics and chemistry at the Catholic Xaverian College in Manchester. 

She previously claimed she was the only student in the 2,000-strong sixth form to gain a place at Oxford that year. 

This was contradicted by classmates, leading her spokesman to say she was 'more than happy to be corrected'.

Having arrived at Somerville College to read chemistry, she quit after a year to move to King's College, London. She said last year: 'Oxford was not for a state school girl from the North doing maths and chemistry. I was like a duck out of water.'

• QUENTIN LETTS: Lucy Powell's speech was 20 minutes of patronising banality. You could have set it in an A-level English paper, asking: 'What, if anything, is this person trying to say?