7:00pm Sunday 20th May 2007
By Jane Reader
THE Tories have turned their backs on grammar schools for purely financial reasons, a parents' leader has claimed.
Margaret Morrissey said leader David Cameron planned to scrap his party's support for more selective state education to ensure more private sponsorship is ploughed into new academy schools.
"When it suits politicians not to build any more grammar schools, they suddenly decide academies would be better," said Mrs Morrissey, Dorset chairman of the National Confederation of Parent Teachers Association.
"We are concerned that this further erodes the choices that parents have got for their children. Not everyone wants their child to go into a very large academy."
Mrs Morrissey said grammar schools offer an extra option for parents who already have little choice about their children's education. Mr Cameron is concerned that middle class children dominate the grammar school intake, claiming: "Parents don't want their children divided into sheep and goats at the age of 11."
His announcement has caused confusion in a party which has traditionally backed selective education based on academic ability.
In Poole, MP Robert Syms has stressed that existing grammar schools are safe.
And Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood added: "We have two excellent grammar schools in Bournemouth and they will continue to serve the community."
Sir John Butterfill, Conservative MP for Bournemouth West, heaped praise on the town's grammar schools, describing them as a powerful influence for social mobility in Bournemouth, but backed the new academies as the way forward, calling Oakmead school "a fantastic example".
Head of Bournemouth School for Girls, Alistair Brien, has stressed that he wants his school to be accessible to everyone.
"This is a key priority of our work with local primary schools.
"We are also working closely with other secondary schools in Bournemouth to share resources and activities to help stretch their most able pupils," he said.
Mr Brien said independent schools would be in more demand if grammar schools were ever to be abolished.
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