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12 April 2026

Tag: grammar schools

Huge sixth form classes will affect A level results, heads warn

A “significant funding dip” is forcing schools to increase sixth form class sizes, with one school reporting 38 pupils in one class, according to the Grammar School Heads Association. Jim Skinner, the association’s chief executive said: “We are facing a situation where high quality A-level provision will become the preserve of the independent sector.” Three […]

Forget the local school model, we need to break the housing price influence

The evidence is clear: local schools favour well-off parents, while more enrolment in publicly-funded private schools increases equity. The government should be encouraging more private providers to enter the market Every child should have the opportunity to succeed educationally. But for many, education equity is hard to come by. Disadvantage has proven stubbornly difficult to […]

‘My child was supposed to go to grammar school – we shop at Waitrose!’

When Joanne Bartley’s daughter failed her 11-plus, her opportunities contracted drastically. She has done well, but now faces a move to a third Kent secondary before she goes on to university. Selection, says her mother, is a self-perpetuating system that has little to do with social mobility When my daughter failed her 11-plus I was […]

Grammar to admit pupils who fail 11-plus but convince ‘review board’ of worthiness

A grammar school wants to boost numbers by offering places to pupils that fail their 11-plus – as long as they show “sufficient evidence of being grammar school standard”. Chatham Grammar School for Boys, in Kent, plans to award any unfilled places to children who fail the test. But they must provide an “admissions committee” with […]

Year in review: A school business manager’s perspective on 2015

The pace of change has made it a tough year for schools, academies and their business managers. But it is also the year that school business management came of age Policy changes in the wake of the general election, cost pressures from increased national insurance and pension costs, and the fragmented landscape of academy, maintained, multi-academy […]

Roy Perry, chair, Local Government Association

History may have been the school subject Roy Perry enjoyed the most. But the new chair of the Local Government Association (LGA) children and young people’s board isn’t tempted to swap life today with any other era. Perry, who is also the Conservative leader of Hampshire County Council, likes the 21st century, with its “hot […]

Secondary moderns must have a voice, too

Grammar schools are back in the news with Nicky Morgan’s approval of a Kent school’s expansion. But they’ve never been away, with one in five students in England attending a school affected by academic selection The National Association for Secondary Moderns (NASM) sees the expansion of a Kent grammar school as a chance to raise […]