North Somerset heads urge May to reconsider grammar school plans

Head teachers from secondary schools in North Somerset have written a letter to Prime Minister Theresa May, asking her to reconsider plans to expand grammar schools.

This is despite a report from the Education Policy Institute last month that identified North Somerset as one of six areas likely to benefit from selection.

The letter, by heads of nine local comprehensives, said selection would "undermine the rapid progress that we have been making for the young people in our communities.”

They add: "No-one could object to the concept of grammar schools in isolation but they do not exist in isolation.

"Where grammars are created other schools become secondary moderns.

"This is the very definition of a zero-sum game.

"A child can only receive his or her education in one school.

"In most cases, teachers only work in one institution."

The heads say they fear that new secondary moderns would be less attractive places to work, and that given the current recruitment crisis, this would "have a disproportionately negative effect on the most vulnerable who are being served increasingly well in the comprehensive system that exists currently."