Grammar Schools? ‘No thank you!’
says Lib Dem Spokesperson for children, Jackie Porter.

‘It is clearly stated that the quality of teaching and learning as well as the quality of the leadership of a school that determines the outcomes for children, not the structure of the education system’ says Jackie.
‘As a Governor of a school myself, and a keen follower of the research of the Sutton Trust, it is clear that if the quality of teaching improves, then the rising tide of quality lifts all the children’s achievements, including the brightest in the class.

So many people judge the achievements of grammar schools on their own experiences decades ago, but no one ever advocates their child attending a school where the bright children have gone somewhere else! There is no doubt that if selection took place, the result would not be the social mobility that our PM hopes for: the children who are coached would be the chosen ones. The evidence is that poorer children do not get the places: this plan is just ‘a sop’ to those families.

It is ironic that the recent withdrawal of grants for University places for poorer families, has dashed the hopes of Higher Education prospects for children of families on lower incomes, reducing social mobility!

Liberal Democrats want every school to be a good (or even better) school, so that natural parental choice is to send your child to a good school near you. Spending hours every week commuting to a grammar school faraway is not good for the soul or the environment either!

Jackie is proud of the fact that Hampshire has resisted grammar schools to date, but is worried that the Conservative –run county council could be forced down this route, squeezed by pressure from their Conservative PM.

‘We will urge our MP’s to stand up for Hampshire where 86% of comprehensive schools are good or better, and results are consistently above the England average. There’s just no need to change the structure again’ says Jackie.