New grammar schools

SIR – I am very pleased that the Education Secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, has expressed his support for grammar schools (Comment, May 12).

Labour would argue that grammar schools did not boost social mobility and did not help working-class children. I am sceptical of this analysis for subjective reasons because I have friends, former grammar school pupils, who are now accountants and lawyers and whose parents were working class. Moreover, when I was at Cambridge, half the students came from the state sector and did not need preferential treatment to get in.

However, the statistics are less important than providing educational choice to families. I have spent 15 years teaching maths to ethnic minority children and, overwhelmingly, their parents would choose a grammar school if places were available. They want an academic atmosphere where their clever, studious children can thrive among like-minded students.

Grammar schools give them this opportunity, and new ones should be permitted.

Jeremy Collis

London SW19