A New Grammar School - Excellent News!

I am very, very pleased to hear that there is to be a new Grammar School in Sevenoaks, Kent. Well that is not wholly correct as it is technically an annex of The Weald Grammar School which is based in Tonbridge which is approximately 9 miles away from the new site. This will be the first Grammar School built in the last 50 years.

I feel it is a great pity that the only way this could happen was to make the new school an annexe of an existing one, when in fact there is no real reason why new Grammar Schools should not be built in their own right. The Labour government of 1965 told local authorities to start converting schools to a comprehensive system. Then in 1998 the Labour government passed legislation that outlawed the building of any new Grammar Schools but allowed existing Grammar Schools to expand if their is sufficient demand. In the case of Sevenoaks there was clearly sufficient demand for a Grammar School as there are already 1100 pupils travelling from Sevenoaks to nearby Grammar Schools requiring a round trip of 25 miles taking up to two hours. Despite this and despite the Labour inspired legislation as described the Labour Party, Lucy Powell, Shadow Education Secretary, described this expansion as "a hugely backward step". All a bit confusing from Labour I think!

Something I find hugely unfortunate is that the expansion of this school will only allow the girls of Sevenoaks to take up the 450 places available as the parent school is girls only, with boys only admitted to the 6th form!

I am very aware of all of the arguments pro and anti Grammar Schools but in my own personal opinion Grammar Schools are a good thing. I see nothing wrong in providing an education system that allows the more academically able students to be pushed to achieve all that they can.

That opinion then leads onto the subject of selectivity. The 11+ examinaton! There needs to be selectivity to ensure that the most academically able students are identified. Should this happen at the age of 11? Is that the right time? I think it probably is as that is the end of the Primary School years. I do think though, that more emphasis should be placed on the opportunity for students that did not pass the 11+ to take the 13+ and then gain entry to Grammar Schools. That would then "mop up" for want of a better term those students that have flourished later in their school career.

I am hugely in favour of there not being a "one-size fits all" education system. Grammar Schools, Technical Schools, Free Schools and Academies have all got a huge part to play in ensuring that our students get as good an education as possible and that education is delivered in a setting or system that matches the individual students needs.

A last thought. The one thing relating to this issue that I find utterly reprehensible is the notion that students that do not pass the 11+ examination are made to feel inadequate or failures. That should never be the case and if parents or educationalists are leading students to feel that way then it is those parents or educationalists that are at fault. All children should be made to feel that they can achieve no matter what type or system of Secondary Education they attend. I did not pass the 11+ and went to a Secondary School. That did not nor does not make me a failure either educationally or in life because I was given the opportunity to achieve. Perhaps that is the most important lesson to be learned?