Sir, The decision by the education secretary to effectively reopen the debate around the 11-plus is regrettable (reports and leader, Oct 15). Leaving aside the semantics as to whether this decision is an expansion of an existing school or a new institution, it is at best, a diversion from the task of raising standards for all children.
At worst, it amounts to an admission of failure by the government in terms of its own policy of driving forward improvement through the creation of high- performing academies supported by multi-academy trusts.
Having declared a commitment to parity of esteem for all schools, and driven through the English Baccalaureate as a benchmark for all children, the government has now contradicted its own policy in capitulating to those who are rooted in a bygone era.
When I took the decision in 1998 not to abolish existing grammar school arrangements, I did so precisely to place emphasis on standards and not on structures.
David Blunkett
Education secretary 1997-2001, Sheffield
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Sir, Approval for an annexe to the Weald of Kent Grammar School is good news for parents and children in Sevenoaks — those of us who want more choice and diversity in education should welcome this decision unreservedly.
Granting a few families what they want in one corner of England does, however, highlight the wider failure to meet demand in other places. Selective education is so popular in the areas where it is still available that no-one tries to get rid of it, but there remains a statutory prohibition on the establishment of selective schools anywhere else. Opinion polls show consistent support for more grammar schools and majority approval among those who vote for all the main parties. Surely politicians who favour localism, devolution and parental choice should now correct this anomaly?
Graham Brady, MP
Chairman, 1922 Committee
Sir, The decision to approve Weald of Kent Grammar School’s application to build an annexe is both practical and fair — but is not the “experiment” that your editorial suggests. Kent has always had grammar schools alongside other secondary schools, but Sevenoaks is its only district without one. My constituents should be entitled to the same choice as elsewhere in Kent, between academies, grammars and free schools. This decision also means that their children will no longer have to travel up and down to Tonbridge every day.
There is also growing pressure on school places. It is government policy to allow any successful school to expand, and it is therefore wrong to discriminate against grammar schools by preventing them from expanding.
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Michael Fallon
Defence secretary and Conservative MP for Sevenoaks
Sir, Many parents in Sevenoaks will celebrate the announcement that the grammar school annexe will be allowed to go ahead. But it is unlikely that many more children in the town will receive a grammar school education as a result.
A third of those who attended the town’s state primary schools already go to grammar school by commuting ten miles down the road. The new annexe is unlikely to risk its prestige by dropping the entry criteria to incorporate those at the non-selective state schools in the town.
The grammar schools of west Kent face a choice: to expand provision by lowering the 11-plus pass mark for the area or maintain high levels of selectivity by giving priority to children who are willing to commute from south London and Sussex.
Hence, it is likely that the political will for grammar schools in Kent also risks damaging well-functioning comprehensive systems elsewhere.
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Dr Rebecca Allen
Director, Education Datalab
Sir, Apart from independent schools (which hothouse children through the 11-plus) and middle-class parents (who will save the cost of sending their children to private school), it’s hard to see who will benefit from new grammar schools.
Pete Barrett
Colchester, Essex
Sir, Please can we have more annexes for grammar schools.
William Critchley
Poole, Dorset