Hundreds of pupils who fail 11-plus get into grammar schools

GRAMMAR schools are admitting hundreds of pupils every year who have not passed the 11-plus test.

Freedom of Information (FOI) figures show that more than 750 pupils who did not pass the 11-plus were still awarded a place at a grammar school.

The statistics have been released by Comprehensive Future, an anti-selective education campaign group, and represent the academic year 2017-18.

Dr Nuala Burgess, the chairman of Comprehensive Future, said. “It seems to us that grammar schools claim they are popular and that their schools are oversubscribed and this is not the case.

“There’s far more children being allowed in who have failed the 11-plus… and it’s through the back door and there’s no scrutiny of their pass rates or an official body looking at them and we seriously think there’s a lot of gaming going on… everyone knows there’s funding per pupil.”

In total 163 grammar schools were asked for details of their parental appeals process. According to the FOI data – of the 104 schools that responded – 1,051 pupils were admitted through parental appeals, with 757 of these pupils admitted despite not passing the 11-plus admission test.

“It puts any reputation for academic excellence into question if academic standards can be dropped the minute there is a financial incentive to do so,” Dr Burgess added.

“Such tactics would suggest that the £200million this Government has designated to expanding selective schools is a sheer waste of money. Far from being oversubscribed, many grammar schools appear to struggle to fill their allocation.”

The FOI statistics found that 35 grammar schools did not admit any pupils at all through the appeals process, while 35 admitted just one or two. More than one third – 59 in total – of all 163 grammar schools did not respond to the request for information.

Jim Skinner, chairman of the Grammar School Heads’ Association, said that the allegations were “ridiculous”.

He said that the vast majority of grammar schools “are heavily oversubscribed”, are not able to offer places to all the pupils who have passed their admissions tests, and that admissions appeals are heard by independent panels.

He said: “It is the appeal panel, not the school, which decides whether or not the child should be admitted and their decision is binding on the school.

“All parents have a right to appeal, if their application for a place at a school is unsuccessful. A high number of appeals is an indication that a school is very popular with parents and heavily oversubscribed.”

The 11-plus exam is used by grammar schools to determine a student’s ability but there is no national ability threshold with which those schools must abide. It is for the schools to decide where the cut-off will be.

The FOI figures may include sixth form students at grammar schools – who will not all have taken the 11-plus – and pupils who have moved into the school during the school year whose ability may have been assessed through other means, and also those who have gained a place at the schools via the appeals process.