THE head teacher at Ludlow School has fired a massive broadside at proposals to reintroduce grammar schools.
Phil Poulton, head teacher at Ludlow School which has seen several years of successive improvement in results, believes that a return to selection at 11 would be a major mistake.
He says that there is no evidence to support the view that grammar schools improve social mobility.
He also calls upon Prime Minister Theresa May to stop being selective if she wants to go back to the future.
“If the Prime Minister wishes to take us back to a time during her formative years, perhaps she would also like to remove university tuition fees, as she, like myself, benefited from paid university tuition,” said Phil Poulton.
“Why waste millions of pounds creating new grammar schools for a select few, when there appears to be ongoing cuts in the education sector, currently?”
He is scathing about claims that selection can help disadvantaged children.
“There is absolutely no evidence, historically, for this,” he said.
"Over 20 per cent of students nationally are in receipt of free school meals, yet only two per cent of those attend grammar schools.
“As for raising standards, this is already happening. Sir Michael Wilshaw, Ofsted chief, someone not shy of criticising schools, told the BBC that a return to selective education would ‘undo years of progress…we will put the clock back'.”
The head of Ludlow School claims that the vast majority of teachers are against a return to selection at 11.
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