In a leak from an internal government memo from the Department for Education it appears as though Grammar schools will return to the agenda.
The memo refers to an internal confidential report into reintroducing grammar schools as an option within the expansion of schools. It states that grammar schools will have to make provisions to ensure that those that do not meet selection criteria are not unfairly excluded. This stance seeks to try to placate some of the critics of the current grammar school system who see it as elitist and exclusionary. Some critics argue that the selective process involved in grammar schools takes high attaining students out of the public system; consequently denying mid to low attaining students the opportunity to progress academically that is borne out of having students with a variety of abilities learning in the same space.
These plans will be difficult to gain approval in the Commons and the Lords. The Department of Education under Justine Greening has previously stated that Grammar school expansion remains a viable option. If plans are adopted that effectively reduces the focus on entrance exams or potentially introduces a quota of pupils that a school must take on this could effectively undermine the positive work grammar schools have been proven to achieve.
More details about any future grammar school policy are expected to be released prior to the Conservative party conference in October.
