Nicky Morgan, the Education Secretary, is expected to approve plans for a new grammar school in Kent after calls by senior Conservatives for more academic selection Britain's first new grammar school for 50 years is likely to be given the go ahead in a move which will help quell a Conservative rebellion.
Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, is expected to approve the new school
in Kent in January following a submission of updated principles by a local
Conservative council.
Her decision is likely the be applauded by senior Tory MPs, who have called
for an expansion of grammar schools to be included in the Conservative
manifesto.
The new school will open in the town of Sevenoaks, officially as an "annexe"
of the existing Weald of Kent school nine miles away. The new school – which
already has planning permission and a £16 million building fund – will admit
90 pupils a year from 2016.
Previous proposals were rejected by Michael Gove, then education secretary,
after they failed to clear bureaucratic hurdles put in place by the previous
Labour government.
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Kent county council has insisted the updated plan will be "compliant with
the regulations" which state that any new grammar school must be the
satellite campus of an existing institution.
The previous plan would have created a mixed "annexe" to the existing girls' grammar school.
Under the new plan the Sevenoaks site will also be girls – only.
The Daily Telegraph understands the Mrs Morgan believes the new application is "much stronger" and is likely to approve it in January.
David Cameron and his education ministers have so far resisted calls to repeal a ban on the opening of new grammar schools, which select pupils on the basis of their academic ability through the “11-plus” exam.
But a grassroots Tory group, Conservative Voice, is building support among backbench MPs for a change in policy which it says would be popular with millions of middle-class parents.
Damian Green, one of the MPs, said: "I'm delighted that this will be the first new grammar school for decades. I hope it's the first of many. It shows that it is possible to create grammar schools even under the existing laws.
"I would like to see a change of law so this is an option for parents in many other parts of the country. There is room for grammar schools because they are the best way of spreading opportunity to children from disadvantaged backgrounds."
There are 164 grammars in England. The best dominate secondary school league tables for exam performance, as their pupils outshine their peers in fee-paying private schools.
Mr Cameron, who was educated at Eton, triggered a furious row within the Conservative party in 2007 after ruling out an expansion of grammar schools, saying parents do not want their children “divided into sheep and goats at the age of 11”.
Last week, it emerged that Theresa May, the Home Secretary, is backing similar plans for a grammar school annexe in her Maidstone constituency. Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary and MP for Sevenoaks, has supported the Kent plan, saying it is "deeply unfair to parents in my constituency" that the town does not have a grammar school.
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, became the latest leading Conservative to back the expansion of academic selection, saying grammar schools have been the "great mobilisers and liberators of people".
The previous plan would have created a mixed "annexe" to the existing girls' grammar school.
Under the new plan the Sevenoaks site will also be girls – only.
The Daily Telegraph understands the Mrs Morgan believes the new application is "much stronger" and is likely to approve it in January.
David Cameron and his education ministers have so far resisted calls to repeal a ban on the opening of new grammar schools, which select pupils on the basis of their academic ability through the “11-plus” exam.
But a grassroots Tory group, Conservative Voice, is building support among backbench MPs for a change in policy which it says would be popular with millions of middle-class parents.
Damian Green, one of the MPs, said: "I'm delighted that this will be the first new grammar school for decades. I hope it's the first of many. It shows that it is possible to create grammar schools even under the existing laws.
"I would like to see a change of law so this is an option for parents in many other parts of the country. There is room for grammar schools because they are the best way of spreading opportunity to children from disadvantaged backgrounds."
There are 164 grammars in England. The best dominate secondary school league tables for exam performance, as their pupils outshine their peers in fee-paying private schools.
Mr Cameron, who was educated at Eton, triggered a furious row within the Conservative party in 2007 after ruling out an expansion of grammar schools, saying parents do not want their children “divided into sheep and goats at the age of 11”.
Last week, it emerged that Theresa May, the Home Secretary, is backing similar plans for a grammar school annexe in her Maidstone constituency. Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary and MP for Sevenoaks, has supported the Kent plan, saying it is "deeply unfair to parents in my constituency" that the town does not have a grammar school.
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, became the latest leading Conservative to back the expansion of academic selection, saying grammar schools have been the "great mobilisers and liberators of people".