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Mon, 7 July 2025
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ATL comment on reports that Nicky Morgan has approved a new grammar school in Kent

ATL | Association of Teachers and Lecturers

1 min read Partner content

Commenting on reports that the Secretary of State for Education, Nicky Morgan has approved a grammar school in Kent, Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said:

“If we are really ‘all in it together’ then the Government needs to act on child poverty, rather than tinkering with measuring it. It needs to concentrate on recruiting and retaining a qualified teacher workforce and it needs to put more funding into maintained schools, because all children have the right to a first-class education, not just those who can pay for the private tuition to get them through the 11+.

“Strikingly, even Policy Exchange says that grammar schools did not increase social mobility and out of the 164 remaining grammar schools only three have more than 10% of the pupils eligible for free school meals. And UCL Institute of Education research reveals a considerably larger gap between the wages of the highest and lowest paid individuals born in areas with a selective education system as opposed to those in an area with comprehensive schools.

“A Government which was serious about social mobility would not allow the expansion of selective education.”