Grammar schools for the first time in 50 years
THE foundation stones of what could become Britain’s first grammar school for more than 50 years have been laid by parents desperate to get the best education for their children.
They are suffering from a shortage of places because children from neighbouring counties are being entered for the 11 plus exam, taking up places which would otherwise go to local youngsters.
Now primary school head Derry Wiltshire and a group of parents from Sevenoaks in Kent want to turn a school building, which will soon be redundant, into an annex of one of the over-subscribed grammars.
Creating an “extension” to an existing school would neatly circumvent rules which make it difficult to open new grammar schools in England. The unspoken hope is that it would eventually become a fully fledged 21st-century grammar school.
“The schools in Tonbridge, and Tunbridge Wells, where our children go, are the victims of their own success. They are really good,” said Mr Wiltshire. “So parents from Hastings and Brighton are getting their children coached to get amazing scores in the 11 plus reasoning tests so they can get a place.
We clearly need more grammar school capacity
“Three of the local grammar schools – The Judd School, Skinners and Tonbridge Grammar – use a super selection criteria, whereby they are able to pick students with the highest scores from anywhere. They don’t have to give any priority to local youngsters.
“This means that the Weald of Kent School and Tunbridge Wells Boys School are bursting at the seams. With a rising population, more and more of our children will pass the 11 plus but will not get a place.”
In three years Bradbourne School in Sevenoaks will merge with Wilderness School to become an academy, leaving the recently renovated Bradbourne building empty.
“It just makes such good sense for our pupils to be able to use what is a huge and beautiful building to create more grammar places on their doorstep,” said Mr Wiltshire.
“It would mean the end of sending our children 10 miles each way to Tonbridge or Tunbridge Wells, massively cutting transport bills.
“There are at least 50 coaches from each company every day taking youngsters back and forward, using money which could be so much better spent on actually educating pupils.
“They are talking all the time about keeping children local, to promote community cohesion, yet the authorities have been dragging their heels for years over giving Sevenoaks a new grammar school.” One parent, who has played an important part in the campaign but has asked not to be named, said parents from all over the South East were putting their children in for the 11 plus, then moving to Kent if they passed.
“Our population is growing, with people coming into the area, and quite a few children from Sevenoaks are passing the exam but not getting a place,” the campaigner said.
“This building will not be in use soon and it’s had a lot of work done on it recently, so it just makes sense to make it an annex of one of the existing grammar schools.
“They don’t have to give it a new name, so all the do-gooders who say grammar schools are unfair can just keep their protests to themselves.”
Sevenoaks MP Michael Fallon, who has campaigned for a grammar school for many years, said: “Last year 300 pupils from East Sussex, Bromley, Bexley and even over the bridge into Essex got places at our schools.
“Bradbourne is going to be redundant in three years, so it makes sense to create a campus of an existing grammar school, or even a new one, to fill the gap.
“It is right that the academy, which is still on Michael Gove’s funding list, comes first, so that those who do not qualify for a grammar school have a decent place to be educated.
“I have also got Kent County Council to send the adjudicator to look into the schools which operate ‘super selection’ to see if they are operating legally. We clearly need more grammar capacity. We have parents from London putting their children in for the 11 plus, then moving to Kent if they get a place.”
Nick Seaton, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education and a long-standing champion of grammar schools, said: “It is grossly unfair that youngsters passing the 11 plus should be denied a decent chance at an education.
“If there is an empty building which can give them the chance of a place, then it would be a scandal of the highest order if parents and teachers were prevented from creating a grammar annex, and therefore extra places.”
