Grammar schools warned against becoming academies

In a statement the NGSA strongly advised grammar schools to be ”extremely cautious” as at present there are suggestions that academies may not be legally defined as ‘maintained’ schools.  There are fears therefore that schools may lose their statutory protection of requiring a parental ballot before they are turned into a comprehensive.

NGSA Chairman, Robert McCartney QC, questioned the consequences of such a decision for parents:

"All academies to date have been all-ability intakes, there doesn't seem to be any provision for safeguards in order to turn grammars into academies.

"Since this new freedom from local authority control will mean that schools have control over their own admissions procedures, would it be possible for a new small group of people, the trust and governors, to decide that admissions procedures are going to change and that anyone who wants to be in the school can come into the school?"

A spokesman for the Department for Education said that the government wanted grammar schools to gain academy freedoms if they wanted them, as with all schools:

"Head teachers know how to run their schools better than bureaucrats or politicians, and it is for them and their governors to decide whether to convert to academy status.”