Grammar schools in England will be given tens of millions of pounds to expand, after the education secretary, Damian Hinds, unveiled a fund for selective schools that agree to improve applications from disadvantaged children.
The £50m fund will potentially allow the creation of new “satellite” campuses of grammar schools away from their existing sites, although the Department for Education said there would be a “very high bar” for such expansions.
“By creating new schools where they are needed most and helping all great schools to grow, we can give parents greater choice in looking at schools that are right for their family and give children of all backgrounds access to a world-class education,” Hinds said.
The announcement is the latest effort by the government to resuscitate grammar schools in the face of fierce opposition from educationalists and policy-makers, and few signs that the policy is popular with parents.
Controversial proposals to lift the ban on creating new grammar schools were a key part of the Conservative manifesto in last year’s snap general election, but the plans were dropped in the wake of the election result, which saw the Tories lose their overall majority.
Labour was quick to accuse the government of “pursuing its own vanity projects” at the expense of comprehensive schools.
“Just weeks after abandoning their own guarantee to protect every school from cash cuts, the Tories have excluded the vast majority of schools from any extra funding,” said Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary.
“The continued obsession with grammar schools will do nothing for the vast majority of children. It is absurd for ministers to push ahead with plans to expand them when the evidence is clear they do nothing to improve social mobility.”
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, likened the government’s efforts to a zombie movie.
“The grammar school corpse has climbed out of its coffin once again, despite evidence of the damage that selective education causes,” Courtney said.
“Schools up and down the country are desperately short of funds. This is money that would be better invested in ensuring all schools could provide for the basic needs of their pupils without having to ask for money from parents.”
The DfE said the £50m selective schools expansion fund would be open to existing grammar schools that offer to expand their admissions, countering criticism that selection benefits children from middle class families who can afford coaching for entrance exams.
Recent figures show that little more than 2% of grammar school pupils receive free school meals, compared with around 15% in other state secondary schools.
A DfE spokesperson said around 150 grammar schools had already pledged to do more outreach with local primary schools.
Jim Skinner, the Grammar School Heads’ Association chief executive, said: “We are very pleased that, like other good and outstanding schools, selective schools now have access to a fund to allow them to expand their premises.
“This is particularly important at a time when there are increasing numbers of pupils reaching secondary age and such high demand from parents for selective school places.”
The policy was given a qualified vote of approval by Sir Peter Lampl, founder of the Sutton Trust that works on improving social mobility through education.
Lampl said the government was right to insist that existing grammars do more to admit disadvantaged pupils. “Our research has shown how socially selective grammars are: you are 10 times more likely to go to one if you went to a prep school than if you are on free school meals,” Lampl said.
But others criticised the plans as implausible at a time when state school budgets were under huge pressure.
Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “We are disappointed that the government has decided to spend scarce funding on expanding grammar schools.
“While there are many good selective schools, just as there are many good non-selective schools, the evidence is clear that expanding the number of selective places is likely to be damaging to social mobility.”
The expansion of new grammar schools was part of a raft of announcements by Hinds, including a decision to allow new voluntary-aided faith schools to admit pupils entirely on the basis of religious criteria, and an effort to resuscitate the free school movement with a new round of applications.
The DfE said it would allow new voluntary-aided faith schools to open that can select up to 100% of its intake by religion, in contrast to the 50% cap on faith admissions for free schools.
source:-theguardian.
