Residents of Buckinghamshire may be surprised by a new Anti-Grammar School Website called Local Equal Excellent (LEE) which was registered on 23rd September 2016.
Browsers of this website may be equally surprised that I have started an article about it, but oddly the language used is resonant of that used on the Kent Education Network (KEN), an ‘organisation’ that itself appears to comprise mainly of a website and two spokespeople, together with data from a large number of FOI requests.
This is hardly surprising, as both websites are registered to the same person, living in Whitstable, and one has to ask why a Kent resident is “Campaigning for fair access to quality schools for all Bucks children,” with no apparent Buckinghamshire mandate to do so. This time a search of the three names mentioned on the Bucks website can detect little activity, but a few letters and FOI requests.
Equally oddly, a third website: 11+ Truth contains much of the same material, again using similar language, this time “A joint effort by groups in selective areas around the UK.” This site was registered on 13th September and, by a strange coincidence, by the same Whitstable resident.....
11+Truth “involves Local Equal Excellentfrom Buckinghamshire, the Kent Education Networkfrom Kent, Transform Reading and Kendrick,Excellent Education for Everyonefrom Maidenhead,” which it represents as the campaign groups in: “The reason so many campaign groups exist in grammar school areas is…”. I have to say looking at the output from the four groups involved in 11+ Truth, there is a long way to go to deliver on the claim of many campaign groups, especially as once again, the website betrays little constructive activity. However, there are plenty of misleading and factually wrong comments such as: “most regular Kent grammar schools do not contain ‘academic high fliers’, only the super-selective grammar schools of Kent which select by the highest scores are hot-houses for academic talent” which of course is rubbish, but might impress someone who does not know the county....
This is not a pro or anti grammar school article, but one which argues for honesty in argument. It is an established fact that the driving force behind Kent Education Network, is motivated, not apparently by her daughter failing to pass the Kent Test, nor because she had the misfortune of then sending her to a school with an out of date good reputation which crashed and was then closed, nor then to a local school which then lost its way. But then this school lost its headteacher which was the event that finally sparked activity five years on from the Kent Test and the bitter article which started the crusade in January this year.
However, from there to attempting the forlorn hope of bringing the selective system crashing down by creating sufficient unhappiness within current arrangements is surely a hopeless and pointless gamble.
In order to boost arguments, too many obviously misleading arguments are employed, Kent’s non-selective schools are denigrated, and the children who have not passed are repeatedly told by KEN they are failures. Another quote from the KEN website reads: “Of the 67 non-selective schools, only 4 are ‘Outstanding’ and 17 require improvement or are currently in ‘Special Measures.’ It is clear that a Kent Test pass gives a child greater opportunity to attend a good or outstanding school, while a Kent Test fail dooms thirty percent of our children to a place in an inadequate school. “ The quoted Statistic cannot bear to mention schools that are rated Good, as the 50 Good or Outstanding non-selective schools in Kent come to 75% of the total, by itself remarkably above the national average in 2015 of 74%, without taking any notice of the grammar schools performance. It is an appalling misuse of statistics to argue that the 17 schools that require improvement or are currently in Special Measures are all Inadequate. ‘Inadequate’ is the precise term for schools that have failed OFSTED, which does NOT include those that Require Improvement. There are of course just two Kent non-selective schools in Special Measures, at 3% well BELOW the national percentage of 5%. The 2015 OFSTED Annual Report places both Kent and Medway in the top third of Local Authorities. KEN: “We think Kent’s two-tier education system shows poor results”. The above evidence demonstrates that the ‘thinking’ is wrong.
I have a serious concern that like KEN, parts of the media itself has too negative a picture of Kent’s non-selective schools, focusing relentlessly on the achievements of grammar schools, and so rarely are they given credit. This website regularly points up the achievements of many good non-selective schools through articles such as the one in Kent on Sunday last year and frequently on other occasions.
Too many other pejorative statements betray the personal bitterness behind KEN, for example: “Our divided school system means many of our non-selective schools cannot offer good A level options.” Of course many do, with 18 non-selective schools having 50 or more students take A Level this year, amongst a total of 4880 students staying on last September to follow vocational or A Level courses, often in combination. If all Kent secondary schools became 11-18 comprehensive schools, apparently the model that KEN espouses, many would still not have the Sixth Form numbers to support a viable A Level Sixth Form. However, equally importantly most of our grammar schools offer opportunities to admit students who have thrived thanks to a good education in non-selective schools (yes again, they do exist!). My recent article on Transfer from Non-Selective Schools to Grammar School Sixth Forms, highlights that 11% of Kent’s Sixth Form students have transferred from non-selective schools, a considerable demonstration of the selective system at its best (there are of course grammar schools that confound this!).
What is unforgiveable is the way that young people are used as ammunition for the argument. The relentless emphasis and anonymised 'quotes' about failure, about pressure, about distress, about parental feelings of inadequacy help no-one, and will harm too many. As demonstrated above, the majority of young people in non-selective schools settle down and thrive, as with the example of the daughter of the founder of KEN shows. However, once again a child is used as political capital having achieved excellent results at GCSE, firstly to make mischief in the Simon Langton Girls Grammar scandal, and then transferred to a different grammar school thoughtfully identified on Twitter.
A week after it opened, the LEE ‘received’ two personal stories about the eleven plus experience, which it published on the new website on a page set up to read “11 plus stigma” in its address. No expectation of an alternative view there! The two perfectly complemented each other in their circumstances. Personally I found the styles similar with echoes of each other, and congratulate the girl who writes so articulately of the chip on her shoulder, on her very mature style. Certainly one to make her grammar school proud!
Put together, this all sounds like a Marketing technique where, if you create enough waves you will be able to rock boats. Fortunately this one is, and should be, barely creating a ripple.
I am regularly asked my views on whether there should be grammar schools in Kent. My answer invariably begins with: I would not start here; we are where we are…. continuation another day!