Friends of Grammar Schools

ACADEMIC scholarship is under threat in state schools, according to a leading head teacher.

By Graeme Paton, Education Editor

307 words

Publication date: 20 June 2009

Source: The Daily Telegraph

Page: 16

(c) 2009 Telegraph Group Limited, London

ACADEMIC scholarship is under threat in state schools, according to a leading head teacher.

The needs of the very brightest pupils are often ignored in the drive to improve standards across the education system, said Shaun Fenton, the prospective chairman of the Grammar School Heads Association. He said academic study needed to be protected as part of a “broad and balanced” education.

His comments were made as the newly formed association – set up to raise the standing of England’s last grammar schools – prepared to meet for the first time next week. It will be used to champion closer links with other state schools, including primaries and comprehensives.

Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, has been fiercely critical of academic selection, saying the existence of grammar schools consigned many children to “failure”.

Only 164 remain after large-scale closures of grammars in the 60s and 70s. Both Labour and the Conservatives oppose the opening of any more.

But they are hugely popular with parents and this year the number of children applying for the 11-plus entrance exam hit a record high in some areas. Mr Fenton, the head of Pates Grammar School in Cheltenham, said the association would challenge the outdated view of selective schools.

He added: “Our immediate priorities are to influence and support reforms that value academic study within a broad and balanced education. For instance, we want to develop teaching expertise for more able students.” The comments were made just days after a former civil servant condemned the comprehensive system, saying academic standards had suffered because of an obsession with fairness.

Ralph Tabberer, the ex-director general of schools at the Department for Children, Schools and Families, said not enough emphasis had been put on “scholarship, genuinely high quality study and its importance”.

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* This story has been reproduced from the media.  It does not necessarily represent the views or position of Friends of Grammar Schools.