MAY’S SCHOOL REVOLUTION

EVERY school can become a grammar New faith schools can be 100% selective Universities told to open secondaries

EVERY school in England will be free to convert to a grammar or selective school under the biggest education revolution in decades.

Theresa May will today promise to allow the opening of new grammar schools for the first time since 1998 in a bonfire of ‘ideology and dogma’.

But in a shock move, the Prime Minister will also allow existing State comprehensives and academies to convert to grammars – if there is local demand. Officials believe it could lead to hundreds of grammars and selective schools springing up across the country, but the plans are sure to trigger a huge political row. Under the plans, Mrs May will: Allow the opening of new grammar schools provided they take a quota of pupils from poor backgrounds – or open a non-selective school to run alongside;

Scrap a rule which bans the Catholic Church and other faiths from opening new free schools or academies which can select children entirely on the basis of faith;

Force any university which wants to charge fees of £6,000 or more to open and run a school locally or take over an existing school which is under-performing.

Mrs May last night launched a passionate defence of the reforms, which will be fiercely opposed by opposition MPs and peers and face a huge battle to become law. She said: ‘For too long we have tolerated a system that contains an arbitrary rule preventing selective schools

‘Selection by house price’ ‘Social mobility disaster’

from being established – sacrificing children’s potential because of dogma and ideology.

‘The truth is that we already have selection in our school system – and it’s selection by house price, selection by wealth. That is simply unfair. That is why I am announcing an ambitious package of education reforms to ensure that every child has the chance to go to a good school.’

She added: ‘This is about being unapologetic for our belief in social mobility and making this country a true meritocracy – a country that works for everyone.’

Mrs May’s revolution goes far further than expected, by also allowing existing State schools – from comprehensives to academies – to apply to become grammars. To do so, there must be a demand for good places locally and they must meet one of four strict rules. The same rules apply to new grammars and existing schools wishing to expand.

One option is that they must take a fixed quota of poorer pupils, such as those receiving free school meals. all pupils would have to pass the selection test – then, of those who did so, a proportion would have to be from lowerincome backgrounds.

Officials said this would ensure that selective education was ‘not reserved for those with the means to move into a catchment area or pay for tuition to pass the test’.

The three alternatives are to establish a new, high- quality, non- selective free school nearby for those who do not pass; set up or sponsor a primary feeder school in an area with a ‘ high density of lowerincome households’; or sponsor a currently under-performing non-selective academy.

In a speech in London today, Mrs May will praise the education reforms of david Cameron’s Government.

She will say there are 1.4 million more children in good or outstanding schools since 2010. However, the PM will add that ‘despite progress made, there are currently 1.25 million children in failing schools – and for too many children a good school place remains out of reach’. She will describe this as an ‘injustice which she is committed to eradicating’.

Mrs May is braced for a fero- cious backlash from the Leftwing teaching establishment. She will also face a battle to get the legislation through the Commons and the Lords – where peers have vowed to kill it stone dead.

yesterday, several senior Tories voiced concern. desmond Swayne, a minister under david Cameron, said: I would not relish the prospect of telling parents… that their child – having not been able to get into the grammar school – would have to be bussed elsewhere.’

The Government’s social mobility tsar, alan Milburn, warned that a return to grammars could be ‘a social mobility disaster’, telling The Guardian: ‘This is not selection educationally, it is selection socially.’

Labour vowed to bitterly contest the reforms – despite leader Jeremy Corbyn and his most senior allies attending grammars. The association of School and College Leaders, which represents secondary heads, said increased selection was ‘education policy by nostalgia’ that would not help social mobility.

The National Union of Teachers described it as a ‘regressive move’ and the association of Teachers and Lecturers said it would be a ‘ massive distraction’.

andrew Copson, chief executive of the British Humanist association, said: ‘If the Government moves to scrap the requirement that religious-free schools must keep at least half their places open to local children, regardless of the religion or beliefs of their parents, they will be sending a very damaging message: that an integrated society is not worth striving for, and that the will of the religious lobby trumps the best interests of our and children and our country.

‘religious selection in schools – the process by which children as young as four are defined and divided by their parents’ religious beliefs – has been and continues to be a significant barrier to fostering that mutual understanding and respect.

‘ If the proposals are as reported, we will do everything we can to oppose them and ensure the progress we have made towards a move inclusive education system is not so catastrophically set back.’

PUGH IS AWAY

IT is a profound indictment of modern ‘egalitarian’ Britain that social mobility today is considerably worse than 50 years ago.

One of the most significant causes is that, from the 1960s, politicians from both parties began dismantling our great grammar schools, which provided a social ladder for countless bright, working class children.

Looking back, it turned out to be an act of educational vandalism with profound consequences for a more equal society. No Tory leader since has had the courage to take on an education establishment for whom selection by ability is a moral outrage. ( David Cameron brandished his politically correct credentials by opposing new grammars even before he became PM.) But by moving so quickly and proposing such far-reaching reforms Theresa May – herself a grammar school girl – shows every sign of being the bold Tory leader this paper hoped and believed she would be.

As the PM rightly argues, there is already a great injustice in how pupils are selected by post code, allowing the well-off to colonise good schools.

Predictably, the mere mention of new grammars sends Labour into spasms of hysteria. So many of its politicians have benefitted from grammar schools, yet they want to deny that opportunity to everyone else. Those who stand to gain most from new grammars are the people Labour should serve, the working class children who are failed by an education system slipping down world league tables.

The Mail does not advocate a return to the rigid old 11-plus. Grammars need entry points for late developers. With better vocational and technical education every child in every school must be allowed to maximise his or her abilities. And Mrs May’s plan to open grammars in poorer areas is welcome.

Grammars are extremely popular with parents, who should be allowed to decide what school system they want in their area. As Mrs May tries to overcome the significant political obstacles in her path, not least the objections from her own wet MPs and the House of Lords, it is them to whom she should appeal for support.