Grammars praised for ‘bucking trend’ of falling GCSE grades

GRAMMAR schools are the key to GCSE success, supporters have said, as results appeared to show that selective schools had bucked the trend of falling grades.

Pupils in Northern Ireland, where 42 per cent attend grammar schools, performed better than those in England, where there are fewer selective schools.

Just over 71 per cent of pupils in Northern Ireland gained A* to C grades compared with 66.6 per cent of teenagers in England, down from 69 per cent on last year.

More pupils attended grammars in Northern Ireland this year, the numbers rising from 62,554 pupils in 2011 to 63,359 this year.

Education experts said the drop in performance in England was a result of compulsory resits taken by 17-year- olds who failed to achieve C grades in maths and English first time round.

However, even without taking the post-16 entries into account, the pass rate at C and above in England would have been only 69.2 per cent this year.

The Northern Ireland scores are the highest since 2001, but the country has consistently come ahead of the rest of the UK.

The 11-plus exam is still part of Northern Ireland’s education system with pupils who pass attending one of its 69 grammar schools – which serve a population of just under 2 million.

England only has 163 grammar schools serving a population of 53 million – with many focusing on specific areas.

Proponents of grammar

schools have argued that separating the brightest children at 11 and giving them a tough academic education enables them to reach their full potential.

It is understood the current government is looking at whether it should re-introduce grammar schools in England, which would bring an end to a ban imposed by the Labour government in 1998.

John Redwood, a Conservative MP who supports grammar schools, said: “I think it’s great news. It shows that children of all academic abilities can benefit from a grammar system. The critics of grammars should look at Northern Ireland and see that there’s something for children of all ability ranges.”

Alan Smithers, professor of education at the University of Buckingham, said: “Northern Ireland has always been considerably ahead of England in GCSEs.

“This has received much less attention than it deserves because the educational establishment are unwilling to contemplate that it might have anything to do with the grammar school system. But what else could it be?”

Northern Ireland entries achieving A* and A grades also improved on last year, up by 0.5 per cent to 29.1 per cent and 9.3 per cent of entries received the top A* grade, up from 9 per cent in 2015.

Results in Northern Ireland were different from those in England because the exam system there has not featured mandatory resits for 17-yearolds and older which has brought results down.

A spokesman for the National Grammar Schools Association said: “The results show the strength of the grammar school system.

“The places in grammar schools in Northern Ireland are freely available to anyone who wants to enter and that means there is no scarcity of places. That’s a great advantage to all of Northern Ireland.

“This is a great excuse to bring grammar schools in England.”

Separately, the first free school set up by former education secretary Michael Gove has posted stellar results. The West London Free School had 37 per cent of A* or A grades – almost double the national average of 20.5 per cent. Roughly 82 per cent of entries were grades A* to C – compared with 66.9 per cent nationally.

The non-selective was the first free school to be approved and was opened in 2011.