First grammar school in 50 years to be approved by Nicky Morgan

The first new grammar school in 50 years is set to be approved by Education Secretary Nicky Morgan.

She will give the green light to plans for a 450-pupil school in Sevenoaks, Kent, after months of legal wrangling, The Times reported.

Labour passed laws in 1998 banning the creation of new grammars - which are selective state schools - but existing schools are allowed to expand if there is sufficient demand.

The Sevenoaks school is not covered by the ban because it is officially an annexe of Weald of Kent Grammar School in Tonbridge.

The Department for Education said the report was “speculation” but it is understood that a written ministerial statement on school expansion will be made in the Commons.

The Times reported that Mrs Morgan will insist the decision does not mean the Government will scrap the Labour law, and the newspaper said the application would only be approved because governors met conditions set by Department for Education lawyers, including the requirement that pupils at the Sevenoaks site spend some time at Tonbridge once a week.

Campaigners in favour of more grammar schools have argued that scrapping the 11-plus test in most areas of the country has hampered social mobility for bright pupils from poor backgrounds.

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London mayor Boris Johnson has described the decline of the grammar school system as a “tragedy”.

Prime Minister David Cameron has previously said that “all good schools” should have the right to expand, including grammars, an assertion echoed by Mrs Morgan.

The expected decision was welcomed by Paul Carter, the leader of Tory-controlled Kent County Council.

He told The Times: “The school took great effort to submit their bid to give greater detailed information on how it will be one school, not two schools, and they did a very good job on that.

“The big issue about this decision is that it won't open up the floodgates. You have to have a grammar school there in the first place to expand.

“If you can't expand on-site you have to expand elsewhere, and that's all we have done in this case.”

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “We don't comment on speculation.”

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Sarah Hutcheson lives in Sevenoaks and is the mother of two children young children who might have been expected to benefit from the decision to allow a new grammar school in the town. But, as she writes, because they’re boys, they stand to unfairly lose out.

“Some people think that grammar schools shouldn’t exist at all. But my view is that unless you live in Sevenoaks then you will struggle to understand the issues fully.

“That’s because, while the pros and cons of selective state education is a big and emotive political debate, for those of us in and around Sevenoaks, it is simply about trying to make an existing system work fairly for our children.

“The truth is that Kent already operates under the grammar school system (about which we have no choice) but Sevenoaks is the only major Kent town without a grammar school.

“Everyone knows the population has increased and will continue to do so and the grammar system must accommodate this. Inflicting the 11-plus on children, with all the pressure and stress that comes with it, without providing sufficient places is plain wrong.

“Under the terms of the agreement because this is an ‘annexe’ of an all-girls school – the new building can only be for girls. I, and many others, will feel the ridiculousness of this decision particularly keenly as we have sons.

“Boys already fair badly within the Kent system, with the shortfall on grammar places for boys being consistently higher than that for girls as well as the boys’ grammar’s being further away.”