If relinquishing the ban on new grammar schools is going to have a real chance of increasing social mobility it’s crucial that more deprived areas are targeted first. I have often argued that parents need a choice of all education offerings in whichever town they live. Currently, there are far too many parents with no…
This week I was invited to be an audience member for a BBC Radio Kent debate on grammar schools. They had a very diverse panel, from a headteacher of an Academy vehemently opposed to grammar schools to journalist and author Peter Hitchens, a passionate advocate for the return of grammar schools. You can view the debate…
There’s been a sweeping change of the guard at the top of our political establishment, with a grammar school educated Prime Minster now at the helm and the first-ever Education Secretary to have attended a comprehensive secondary school. Since Theresa May and Justine Greening, the new Education Secretary, took hold of the reins of power,…
Many of us with a passion for literature have fond memories of the school library as a place that nurtured our love of the written word. This is why I read with disappointment the findings from a recent survey by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) about library provision in UK schools. Although 94%…
In Response to ‘Grammar schools and the opportunity gap: 10 questions for Nicky Morgan’, an article that appeared in the Guardian stating the views of a particular parent about the choices in Kent secondary schools. The recent decision of the government to allow grammar schools that were oversubscribed to open annexes has sparked off some…