Access denied: Conservative-run Northamptonshire Council bans children going to good schools

Nick Seaton of the Campaign for Real Education, says grammar schools are more popular than ever, yet Northamptonshire Children are being denied the chance to go them in Warwickshire.

Despite the vitriol directed against them, the popularity of grammar schools is growing exponentially.

In 2007, Kent local authority had 1,232 applicants from outside the county to take the voluntary 11-plus test for a place in its grammar schools. Two years later, that number had risen to 1,810, an increase of almost 50%.

Of those 1,810 out-of-county applicants, 924 demonstrated the required standard for a grammar school place. Exact numbers are not yet available, but only around 1 in 3 of these is likely to be offered a place in the school of their choice.

Last week, grammar schools suffered another setback. Conservative-controlled Warwickshire County Council (WCC) confirmed plans to reduce the number of places available to families living less than 10 miles from its two grammar schools in Rugby, if  they live across the border in comprehensive Northamptonshire.

Some of these families have bought houses on the Northamptonshire side of the county boundary, knowing they would have access to Rugby grammar schools if their children passed the test. Their older children are already attending these schools.  Now, access for their bright young brothers and sisters may be cruelly denied.

Some of these families have bought houses on the Northamptonshire side of the county boundary, knowing they would have access to Rugby grammar schools if their children passed the test. Their older children are already attending these schools.  Now, access for their bright young brothers and sisters may be cruelly denied.

This has happened because comprehensive headteachers, aided by the schools adjudicator and Joan Kirkbride, the Conservative councillor responsible for schools in Northamptonshire, objected to clever children living in their county fleeing across the border for better, more popular schools in Warwickshire.

Earlier plans to halt this exodus were overwhelmingly rejected in a consultation. The parents' objections included:

• Maladministration by Northamptonshire Admissions Forum
• Misleading information in the objection to the Schools Adjudicator
• Application of the law – Greenwich and Rotherham Judgements
• Lowering of standards at the Rugby schools
  

With egg on its face as well, WCC has made minor concessions. But in general terms, it has surrendered to anti-choice officials and Northamptonshire Conservatives. The cabinet's decision, we are told, is supported by a QC's legal opinion obtained by WCC.  But as this was paid for by taxpayers, doesn't it seem strange that no-one directly involved has been allowed to read it?

Within 24 hours of Warwickshire's decision, publication of new, extremely complicated admission arrangements for the grammar schools concerned (Rugby High School for girls and Lawrence Sheriff School for boys) was already under way – a classic example of manipulative officials and their allies working at top speed against the public interest.

The obvious solution to this deliberately exacerbated problem would be to increase the 94 places for 11-year-olds in each grammar school – cater for the demand. But inflexibility and failure to plan for honest future expansion mean that both schools are crammed with sixth formers imported from other schools. To cater for its own needs, each school should probably have around 180 sixth formers (twice the number of entries at 11). Lawrence Sheriff  has 327 and Rugby High School has 273.

Meanwhile, such removal of choice in the type (and ethos) of secondary schools on offer is spreading even in Conservative local authorities. Why?

Most observers have no doubt it is caused by David Cameron's change in official Conservative policy. The official line is that Conservatives will defend the grammar schools that remain, but will allow no more.

The implication – that state-funded grammar schools are somehow politically incorrect –  has created such confusion among Conservatives that extreme leftists, not to mention the over-powerful educational establishment, are having a field day. Among political decision-makers, many supporters of honest diversity and choice have been shackled or silenced.

Few would argue about Mr Cameron's repositioning of the Conservative Party. But helping Labour's class war and denying bright children the best possible education for political convenience is something else.

Caring Conservatives?  Or do actions speak louder than words?