Grammar school at 13

SIR – It is good to hear that Justine Greening, our new Education Secretary, is “open-minded” about grammar schools (report, July 18).

She should consider evidence from the world of independent schools that selective education makes more sense at 13-plus for Year Nine entry than at 11-plus for Year Seven.

The later transfer age gives children more time to take key learning steps at junior school, and means that they are better able to cope with the social pressures found in the senior school.

The 11-plus system might have worked at a time when many children left school at 14, but it certainly does not suit the world we live in today. Alastair Graham Headmaster, Hall Grove School Bagshot, Surrey SIR – Labour’s determination to destroy grammar schools, and the Conservatives’ indifference to them until recently, have had a detrimental effect on young people’s education.

An education system combining grammar and non-selective schools would enable everyone to have a world-class education. Peter Booth Altrincham, Cheshire SIR – Perhaps Justine Greening will consider streaming within the current comprehensive system.

In the Sixties, at Colne Valley High School in West Yorkshire (the first comprehensive in the North), the school was split academically, with grammar and secondary sections. Pupils knew where they stood academically but we were all members of the same community, playing for the school together in sport and music.

There was no upheaval if errors were made during the 11-plus selection process. Pupils were quickly reassessed and moved accordingly. Stephen Hirst Huddersfield, West Yorkshire