The number of people who have signed our e-petition has passed 2,500. This is fantastic news and we would like to thank every one of our fantastic supporters. Our e-petition, which has two weeks still to run, can be found at:-
http://democracy.kent.gov.uk/mgepetitionlistdisplay.aspx?bcr=1
70% WANT A GRAMMAR SCHOOL; 19% WANT A CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
An independent survey of Sevenoaks parents conducted by the Sevenoaks Chronicle newspaper and Sevenoaks ACE* has found that 70% of Sevenoaks respondents are in favour of a new grammar school; 19% are in favour of a new faith school; and 11% are in favour of a new comprehensive school.
70% for a grammar school and 19% for a Christian school closely matches the results of the e-petitions operated by the Sevenoaks Grammar School campaign (2,500+ signatures) and the Christian Free School campaign (800 signatures). These figures confirm that a Sevenoaks grammar school is more than three times more popular with the people of Sevenoaks than a Christian School.
The Sevenoaks Chronicle articles announcing the results are here:-
http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/Grammar-parents-wish-list/story-15362226-detail/story.html
http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/RESULTS/story-15362423-detail/story.html
*Sevenoaks Action for Community Education (ACE) is a group of local parents that is campaigning for additional secondary school places in Sevenoaks “that meet the needs of the Community”. 126 people responded to ACE’s survey – 88 favoured a new grammar school; 24 favoured a new Christian secondary school; and 14 favoured a new comprehensive school.
CRITICISMS BY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL HEAD OF WEST KENT GRAMMAR SCHOOL EXPANSION USED IN PARLIAMENT
On 22nd February, there was a Commons Parliamentary Committee debate on the expansion of grammar schools at which the Labour party Shadow Schools Minister, Kevin Brennan (MP for Cardiff West), said the following*:-
“Moving on to some of those who are affected by selective systems, I shall refer to the comments of Ian Bauckham, the head of Bennett Diocesan Memorial school, a very successful all-ability school in west Kent which operates in an almost exclusively selective environment. I will not quote him verbatim, but I am happy to supply the full text to the Minister if he wants it.
“Mr Bauckham says that it is critical to understand that uncontrolled expansion of popular schools has a particularly damaging effect in areas where 11-plus selection persists. In his area, where some 40% of children take and pass the 11-plus, there is continued parental pressure to get children into grammar schools….He argues that if grammar schools are allowed to expand their rolls and intakes, fewer children from aspirational backgrounds will go to the local non-selective schools, meaning that those schools will become more exclusively the preserve of children from less aspirational backgrounds…By consigning these children to what are widely regarded as schools for failures—condemning them to failure at the age of 11—their already fragile expectations will be depressed still further and they will be less likely to succeed.”
It therefore appears that the Head of Bennett Memorial (a Christian secondary school in Tunbridge Wells) may have been in contact with a national Labour (and anti-grammar school) politician to object to grammar school expansion in West Kent. Leaving aside the fact that Bennett Memorial is itself a highly selective school by only admitting children from Anglican Christian families, many people will want to understand why Mr Bauckham feels the need to involve a national politician in this matter who does not fully understand the educational needs of the people of West Kent.
