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12 April 2026

Tag: grammar schools

Just six areas meet government’s grammar school criteria (and they aren’t in deprived places)

Just six areas meet government criteria for new grammar schools, according to a study published today, that found the areas all had low rates of deprivation. The Education Policy Institute (EPI) research found Solihull, Essex, North Yorkshire, Dorset, Northamptonshire and North Somerset are the only local authority areas that meet the government’s ‘expansion principles’ for […]

Nationality data, grammar schools – what’s the real story?

If you’re looking for good assembly material, it’s worth showing pupils the greatest music video of the Nineties: Oasis’s Stand By Me. It shows a series of unconnected events over its five-minute riff. We see people stealing televisions; twin sisters pushing one another; a woman being mugged; a child being kidnapped. Or, at least, that’s […]

Did Theresa May mislead parliament on grammars?

Prime minister Theresa May has been accused of misleading MPs by “over-spinning” an independent research report that she claimed had said reintroducing grammar schools would be “potentially transformative”. May used a report, commissioned by the Labour-run Knowsley borough council, to rebut concerns raised by former shadow education secretary Lucy Powell that the government’s focus on […]

DfE hires grammar school critic as head of strategy and social mobility

The Department for Education has appointed Emran Mian, the director of the Social Market Foundation think tank and a critic of grammar schools, as its new head of strategy. Mian will take up the post of director of strategy and social mobility next year, filling a void left by the department’s former strategy boss Tom […]

‘Let’s make grammar schools do outreach work – and that’s just a start…’

It’s a lottery as to which primary schools encourage their pupils to consider a grammar school. That needs to change, says David Jesson. The government’s education green paper has provided the basis for an enlivened debate about the purpose of grammar schools and whether more pupils should have the chance to experience this form of […]

Autumn statement: Grammars grants confirmed, but no schools funding boost

The government has today confirmed a £50 million annual capital investment to deliver new grammar schools, but school leaders hoping for additional cash to address “severe funding pressures” have been left empty-handed. The chancellor Philip Hammond said the capital funding for the expansion of selection, which was announced by the prime minister earlier this year, […]

High and low attainers do worst in fully selective areas, new data reveals

Pupils with low and high prior attainment are less likely to pass five GCSEs in fully selective areas, a Schools Week analysis of government data can reveal. High and low-attaining pupils had higher GCSE pass rates in areas without selection or with partial selection, calling into question the reliability of using the blunt pass rate […]