The debate over new grammar schools takes yet another spin. An exclusive report by TES reveals plans being developed by the government to allow the creation of more grammar schools will not amount to a nationwide system of selective education. The proposals are expected to be modest in scale, with a strict focus on providing for “hardworking” middle-income families. Downing Street has not denied reports that the new overturn the ban on new grammar schools as part of her social mobility agenda. An announcement is not expected until October but details of what is being considered are already leaking out.

A Whitehall source for the TES told it is likely that the government will introduce about 20 new grammar schools, targeted in a handful of “typical working-class areas”, such as on the outskirts of Birmingham and other provincial cities. “It is unlikely they will try and bring in thousands of grammar schools,” the source said. “Instead it will be a handful here and there, in normal working-class areas.” The new selective schools are expected to be required to admit a significant proportion of pupils in receipt of free school meals.  

Another suggestion is that the new grammar schools operate strict catchment areas that encompass communities from low- and middle-income backgrounds. With plans still fluid, key players in the schools system have started to pitch their ideas of how the new academic selection might work. Toby Young, chief executive of the West London Free School Trust and an early pioneer of the free-school movement, is putting forward a “third way” proposal that would allow partial selection in academies and free schools. But ministers and their advisers may already have other free-school models in mind. “What they want is to introduce a London Academy of Excellence (LAE), but for 11- to 18-year-olds,” one source said. The LAE is a highly successful selective sixth-form college in Newham, which this year sent eight of its students to Oxbridge. The school has been nicknamed the “Eton of the East End” for its impressive results. “This government will be far less interested in raising the bottom 10 per cent and more concerned about helping low- and middle-income families. In-work families with a reliance on public services,” the source added.