And they nearly always have the lowest proportion of disadvantaged students. When Justine Greening gave her statement in the Commons this afternoon, she repeated numerous Prime Minister’s own lines about selection already existing through house prices and so on.
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Last week Mrs May announced sweeping school reforms that would allow all schools to convert to a grammar or selective school, including existing state comprehensives and academies.
The argument of selection supporters is now that all of the evidence that grammar school systems are bad for children in poverty is irrelevant because they are going to design a new system which is “inclusive”.
Rules stopping faith schools from selecting more than half of pupils according to religion are also set to be relaxed under the proposals.
Writing in the Daily Mail, Mrs May insisted her plans would give parents the chance to send their children to a “great school”. We know they are good for the pupils that attend them.
Grammars will be required to establish or sponsor a primary feeder school in an area with a high density of lower income households or to sponsor a now underperforming non-selective academy.
The Prime Minister told a private meeting of Conservative MPs on Wednesday evening that she wanted to create a “21st century education system” with an “element of selection”.
“By contrast, for decades grammars provided a ladder which poor but able children could climb, giving them the opportunity to fulfil their potential and build a better life”.
“In a true meritocracy, we should not be apologetic about stretching the most academically able to the very highest standards of excellence”.
These could include taking a quota of pupils from poorer backgrounds, opening up a non-selective school to run alongside it, there being enough demand for places and pupils only being accepted if they pass an entrance exam.
She said she would attack entrenched privilege and work towards a society where people rose on the basis of their abilities rather than their connections.
“I want to see children from ordinary, working class families given the chances their richer contemporaries take for granted”, May concluded.
“And I want Britain to be a place where advantage is based on merit not privilege; where it is your talent and hard work that matter, not where you were born, who your parents are or what your accent sounds like”.
Labour has accused Mrs May of favouring an education system that will only cater for the “select few” while unions have suggested her plans are elitist. In the United Kingdom now, schools with more deprived intakes find it harder to attract the best teachers and leaders: Ofsted reports that schools in deprived areas are four times as likely to have poor leadership than those in better off areas. “But our ambition as a nation should be to achieve those excellent outcomes for a larger number of children”.
Plans for new grammar schools in Britain were accidentally revealed after an education official was photographed holding a report which indicated as much as they entered No 10 Downing Street this week.
Labour said creating grammar schools would lead to “social segregation”.
James Courtenay, Southend councillor responsible for children and learning, says he believes new grammar schools in south Essex could provide more spaces locally for youngsters.
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At the same time, Mrs May will announce that universities will be required to establish a new school or sponsor an existing underperforming school if they wish to increase student fees.
