There are pupils at the school living in £10m houses and others who live in the shadow of Grenfell. You can find our Community Guidelines in full here. Selective schools, and the higher education, employment and earnings outcomes of those who attend them Allow grammar schools to expand – or better yet, open new ones in parts of the country you want to ‘level up’ – and the social mix of their pupils will change. It was a case of education levelling down rather than up and so even more poorer children missed out on university. Due to the sheer scale of this comment community, we are not able to give each post the same level of attention, but we have preserved this area in the interests of open debate. When I arrived in 1973 the Lower School Master, Mr Greenhow was about to retire. What are the PROS of grammar schools? 2. Grammar schools are state secondary schools that select their students by an entrance examination taken by children when they are 11 years old and this exam is called as “11-plus”. On average 2.6% of grammar school children received free school meals compared with 13.4% of children across all state secondary schools, according to the latest school census. Why? Grammar schools are government-funded secondary schools. The most insightful comments on all subjects will be published daily in dedicated articles. John Bercow will be speaking online at a special Comprehensive Future event, Is there a comprehensive future? Grammar schools are free, but that does not mean they do not have high standards of education or do not adhere to them. Both the Conservatives and Labour have to take an honest and open position and support comprehensive education everywhere. With the country so divided, and educational disadvantage growing so rapidly, even more so during the pandemic, it is time to act. ‘Grammar schools are defined by their pursuit of academic excellence, traditional teaching methods and ethos of strict discipline,’ explains Bob McCartney, chair of the National Grammar Schools Association. The chairman of the National Grammar School Association told Radio 5 live why grammar schools are good for children. The masters wore gowns, you called them “Sir” and stood up when they arrived in the classroom. I do not know if my elder son would have passed an exam at 10 (the age that many take the 11-plus) but at age 16, educated at a comprehensive, he has 11 GCSE passes, 10 of them at the top grade 9. So it is with the grammar schools. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. This made secondary education after the age of 14 free. Tomorrow's Budget is set to pave the way for a new generation of grammar schools, as part of a £500m investment in education reforms. Try finding that in a state school today. Similarly to grammar schools, private schools … He was not unusual. ntil last year, I was the MP for Buckingham, in one of the few counties where education is fully selective. Create a commenting name to join the debate, There are no Independent Premium comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts, There are no comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts. I have also been profoundly influenced by my family’s experience, from seeing close up how a fantastic comprehensive works. In the town there are two state secondary schools, a grammar and a secondary modern, right next door to each other. We have put together a league table comparing UK grammar schools in terms of their academic performance which can make this process a bit easier for you. Why grammar schools are a good idea. According to a 2008 report conducted by the Sutton Trust and published on the Grammar Schools Association website, grammar school students perform better in GCSEs than pupils from other schools. We sent a decent proportion to Oxbridge, and I was one of them. She certainly did not take that stance when she was shadow education secretary, and I was her junior team member in charge of grammars, back in 1999. If a child struggles, the school is all over it, constantly in touch about how to improve learning. It made the Conservatives seem narrow, backward-looking, old-fashioned. Bad in theory, bad on the stats, at least on a superficial inspection, and flawed, no doubt – but for those who went to one, they represented a ladder of opportunity which has since disappeared. A number of grammar schools are reportedly being planned across England after the Government gave the go-ahead to the first "new" selective school in 50 years. There was a “them and us” attitude. I confess to being conscious, too, that vast swathes of the local electorate were pro-grammar schools, particularly my Conservative voters. GCSE attainment at grammars is, on average, much better than in non-selective schools (the attainment gap is greatest with non-selective schools in highly selective areas). I used to subscribe to the myth that grammar schools were the great facilitator of opportunity for a bright working-class child. They have friends, male and female, of all ethnicities, Christian, Muslim and secular. on 10 December, It's still rich v poor in English schools – exactly as Boris Johnson likes it | Fiona Millar. Please continue to respect all commenters and create constructive debates. Grammar schools do not have better pupil attainment than other state schools and should be closed for the negative impact they have on social mobility, a new study has concluded. I never understood why Theresa May made expanding grammar schools a centrepiece of her premiership, although I suspect she was influenced by her chief of staff, Nick Timothy, a high Tory and a grammar school enthusiast. 05/06/2015 11:33am BST ... Would she have got that in a state school - even the excellent grammar … My three children attend Holland Park in west London, where I have now just been elected a parent-governor. Want an ad-free experience?Subscribe to Independent Premium. There’s an idea that they’ll enhance social mobility – that poor talented children in grammar schools will get a better education than they would have had otherwise. Holland Park school is extraordinarily socially and racially diverse, with nearly 17.7% of its school population on free school meals. And I was wrong then and am right now. I am under no illusions, though. Grammar schools have existed since the 16th Century, but the modern grammar school concept dates back to the Education Act 1944. I have come to believe that the only way we will get change in the selective areas is to have a countrywide policy, nationally promoted and applied. I was warmly welcomed in both schools. {{#verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}}, Read more New grammar school opening, but don't expect more to follow, You may not agree with our views, or other users’, but please respond to them respectfully, Swearing, personal abuse, racism, sexism, homophobia and other discriminatory or inciteful language is not acceptable, Do not impersonate other users or reveal private information about third parties, We reserve the right to delete inappropriate posts and ban offending users without notification. You can also choose to be emailed when someone replies to your comment. That is a gap of 39.2 percentage points. Greater social diversity: Finally, many parents prefer Grammar Schools because generally, they offer a greater level of social diversity compared to Private Schools. See related Pros and cons of creating new grammar schools She was keener to talk about schools in general, and explicitly not to associate the Tory party with the selective school issue. It allows our most engaged readers to debate the big issues, share their own experiences, discuss real-world solutions, and more. Of course, I always supported both schools to the best of my ability – that is a local MP’s job. While that may have been true when Fred Perry – a great tennis hero of mine – went to grammar school in the 1920s, that is not the norm today. Selection fosters social division. In 2015, only 32.2% of children on free school meals in the county got five good GCSEs; neighbouring, non-selective Luton did much better. Far from being bastions of social mobility, the average grammar school has fewer than 3% of their pupils on free school meals, compared to an average of … Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? ‘Students are selected based on their academic potential, to identify those who are most suitable for this type of education.’ Children who either don’t apply for a grammar school place or fail to meet the necessary academic st… Hey, guys! Here is a comparison of 163 UK Grammar Schools based on their academic performance at GCSEs and their Progress 8 measures. At least £320m has been earmarked to … The place was a middle-class racket; most of my schoolmates’ parents were architects, surgeons, accountants and the like. Grammar schools are unhealthy and should be phased out. My children, who are very different in their talents and interests, are flourishing. On average, 10.7% of pupils at Bucks’ non-selective schools are eligible for free school meals (FSM) while the figure for the county’s grammars is just 2%, and a third of Bucks’ non-selective schools are currently rated less than good. Until last year, I was the MP for Buckingham, in one of the few counties where education is fully selective. Good results: Grammar schools get great academic results. Had I been born in 1972 rather than 1962, by which time Leicestershire had started to abolish the grammars, I would not have had the life chances I have had. It was a … When I was elected in 1997, it seemed like an apartheid system. If there’d been no grammar, they’d have sent their boys to a fee-paying school. Grammar schools provide equal opportunity to every student irrespective … Read our full mailing list consent terms here. Labour's arrangements for abolishing grammar schools were also a … And I did not question the selective system itself for a long time. They caned you, but they were also gifted, eccentric and inspirational, and gave their lives to the place. ‘Faith Schools, pupil performance, and social selection’: this report considers the premise in Schools that work for everyone that faith schools are high-performing and support increased social mobility. Compare that with neighbouring Luton, where the difference was only 13%. Mine was fairly typical. Given the choice between stats and personal experience, I give a heavy weighting to the latter. Grammar pupils were encouraged to feel superior and many secondary modern students probably resented them. In later years, there was more collaboration between the schools’ headteachers – sharing of facilities and joint art and drama events, in an effort to bridge the gap in small ways. Intelligence cannot be measured at the age of 11. Private schools are there to make money and a profit for their owners - the money does not always go into improving the school! Grammar schools are no more successful than comprehensives at getting their pupils into elite universities, according to new research. Our own children have friends in both categories. And he was right. The Royal Latin, founded in 1423, the one grammar school in the constituency, seemed to me to be the embodiment of excellence and confidence. See also: ‘Grammar schools and social mobility’: our first report on this area – the most detailed impartial study of the data and evidence on selective schools for almost a decade. Why Private Schools Are Better Than State. The evidence is clear: grammar schools unfairly favour the affluent, whereas a high-quality comprehensive system can raise the achievements of the less able, while doing no … We do not suggest that local areas can pick their own energy policy, so why should we with education? 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