Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Grammar schools poaching pupils, says former head
A former Canterbury head teacher says grammar schools are poaching pupils in a bid to plug gaps in their classes.
Phil Karnavas, who retired as principal of Canterbury High last month, pointed the guilty finger at schools for failing to fill its places by their result in the Kent Test.
And he says that is having an adverse impact on non-selectives in both the Canterbury district and the county as a whole.
He said: “In Kent there was a supposed promise that 25% of pupils would attend grammar schools, but over the years the percentage increased to 30%.
“In 2016, Barton Court expanded its admission number to 150 places. But there simply weren’t enough pupils classed as ‘grammar school standard’ to apply. The school attracted 105 pupils who had passed the 11-plus and filled the remaining 45 places with appeals. Inevitably it’s the aspirational parents who bother with grammar school appeals and nearly a third of this grammar’s pupils got in without a test pass.
“Any grammar schools with empty desks at the start of the September term simply spread the word and poach pupils who’ve just started at non-selective schools. This is entirely about the grammar school’s expansionist ambition and financial greed, it has absolutely nothing to do with education.”
Mr Karnavas, a long time outspoken critic of Kent’s selective system, made the comments through anti-11-plus campaign group Comprehensive Future following research by the BBC which suggested grammar school numbers had increased by 7% across England while the number of 11 to 15 year olds declined by 2.5% in the same period. It claimed parent power was the motivating factor.
But education advisor Peter Read, a former grammar head who now runs the Kentadvice. co.uk website, disagreed with the parent power claim and some of the figures.
He said: “This may be true nationally, but a closer analysis of Kent figures shows a different picture, with the number of Year 7 children admitted to all Kent mainstream schools rising by 7.5% between 2012 and 2017 and the number of grammar places increasing by a little over that rate at 8.7%. Over the same period the proportion of children of compulsory school age in Kent grammar schools has increased by just 1.5%. Certainly, in Kent, by far the greatest proportion of the increase in places is brought about by rising rolls, contrary to the claim.
“Kent County Council operates a system that successfully delivers the target 25% of children selected for grammar school. While the largest number of additional children comes from parental appeals, it is clear that a few grammars look to increase numbers by this mechanism by encouraging panels to stretch the criterion of ‘grammar school ability’ to the full.”
He also pointed out that statistics for Barton Court reveal in 2017 all 150 places were filled with those securing the mark identifying them suitable for a grammar. He also says the 2016 figures quoted by Mr Karnavas include a large number who got in following headteacher assessments – a process in which parents are not involved.