Yes it is true - the Birmingham grammar schools are going to introduce a catchment
area.

Says who?

They are planning on introducing a catchment area for the 2020 intake. Can this be allowed to happen? It will be a travesty if this is allowed to go ahead.

I repeat: Says who?


Of course it can! All schools, grammar schools included, are allowed to define catchment areas.


Why? The only result will be that more children will attend their local school.

A little over-dramatic, don't you think?

A travesty?

If it is true, I think you mean to say it doesn't personally suit you?

Grammar schools were established to help Britons who came from modest, often poor backgrounds, to give them the opportunity to transform their lives through education. It didn't matter where you lived, if you were capable of passing the 11+, then the gates were open to you. If they go ahead and introduce this catchment area, (like they are proposing to do) then the opportunity of an outstanding education will be removed from hundreds of children. Those who can afford to move, will or families will rent property in the catchment area, to secure their place, before moving back to where they came from. This isn't what Grammar schools were established for. Class, wealth and a catchment area shouldn't come into.

We know all of this. What we want to know is this:


Where are the facts?

Oh, and by the way, that is nonsense. Grammar schools were introduced nationally, back in days of yore. It didn't matter where you lived because there was a GS on your doorstep (if you were capable of passing the 11+).

What changed was that so many grammar schools were abolished in the 1970s. Places then became more sought after and an arms race evolved.

If you're lucky enough to live in an area where children don't go to grammar schools, the chances are that your local comprehensives will be genuinely mixed ability and will cater for all children including the most able.

If you think you'll be out of catchment under any new arrangement then that's great news for your local schools, and it means your children will be able to go to a good local school rather than having to travel a long way to a grammar.