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 Graham Brady MP is the Conservative MP for Altrincham and Sale West. He wrote this article for us:
I first became involved in politics when, as a pupil at Altrincham Grammar School, my school was threatened with closure. Almost thirty years have passed since then, but sadly we are still seeing the same struggles continuing at grammar schools across the country. Today’s pupils facing the destruction of their excellent school are those at St. Bernard’s Catholic Grammar School in Slough.
Last year St. Joseph’s College in Stoke on Trent, a highly successful, over-subscribed, Catholic 11-18 school was faced with closure under the guise of reorganisation. The attempt was successfully resisted following a campaign by teachers, parents, pupils and some politicians.
Those who are not involved in politics or education will be bewildered at the notion of closing outstanding schools like St. Bernard’s or St Joseph’s: Why on earth, when there are so many schools offering poor or indifferent educational opportunities, would you want to destroy some of the highest performing?
The answer, of course, is a political one. The Labour government tried in 1998 to start the process of closing down grammar schools by legislating to introduce a ballot process so that parents could vote to close their local grammar. Opponents of grammar schools will tell you that they cause division and misery. Recently I spoke alongside my colleague David Davis MP in a debate hosted by The Spectator on the
proposition that ‘Grammar schools are best’. Those opposing us like Fiona Millar and Charles Clarke MP told of the harm created by selection; they argue that people who do not get into grammar school are scarred for life; families are put under untold pressure and so on. It must have been a surprise to ministers who believe in this tale of misery that parents living in local areas with grammar schools have not taken them
up on their generous offer to close them down. Under Labour’s cunning proposals, only one ballot was ever held, which resulted in overwhelming backing for Ripon Grammar.
Parents tend to rely, not on the views of Labour ministers but on personal experience of what works best. There is also a vast armoury of statistics that prove, beyond the reach of any manipulation, that selective education is best. These are the same statistics that I mention year on year, and although they wobble slightly, they never alter the core assertion that selective education is best for everyone, and that filtering
on the basis of ability has to be better than filtering on the basis of wealth. Where selection takes place, it does better for pupils of all abilities, not just the pupils who go to the local grammar school.
First, all but one of the top five Local Education Authorities where pupils score five A* - C GCSEs is selective or partially selective. Trafford, Sutton, Kingston on Thames and Redbridge, first, second, fourth and fifth, are all selective areas, and inTrafford 78.4% of students achieve 5 A*- C grades at GCSE. Second, these results are not just being achieved by the grammar school students while those in the secondary moderns and high schools get left behind. In 2007/8, 64 % of pupils at comprehensive schools achieved 5 A*-C GCSEs. In modern schools the figure is 58%. A 6% gap; very small considering that in some areas, such as Trafford, the secondary modern schools have lost the top 30-40% of the most academic children to grammar schools.
The fact that the results are so close to comprehensive schools indicates that the modern and high schools are doing well by the children they teach, so much so that a quarter of high schools do better than all-ability comprehensives.*
The government has failed to win the argument and close grammar schools through the ballots they set up; parents always vote to keep them. So now the Government is trying to close grammar schools through stealthier means, and this is what is happening to St. Bernard’s. The Northampton Diocese is being offered a lot of money for new buildings on the condition that they “federate” St. Bernard’s with another
local school, St. Joseph’s Catholic High School to create a non selective academy school. If they don’t, no new funds will be made available. Parents have not been consulted and their “short term” concerns dismissed. Ministers will try the same trick in other areas too. Ed Balls, the man currently in charge of schools, is no fan of grammars but is unwilling to tackle parents head on. He could be open and honest and
say that he is trying to close grammars but he will not, instead he prefers to starve them of funds so that the prospect of joining with a non-selective school looks tempting. The tragedy is that once grammar schools lose their unique ethos it is gone forever. I hope that schools like St Bernard’s will draw on support from parents and the wider community to fight to preserve what they do best.
The government has done its best to close grammars and the ballot system was established specifically to do that, but at least it involved consulting local people. The methods being used now to undermine excellent schools are dishonest and dangerous. St. Bernard’s Catholic Grammar School ought to stay. If anyone is in doubt, they should ask the parents and the people of Slough what they would prefer.
* All figures available on www.friendsofgrammarschools.org.
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