Comprehensive Future

We're campaigning for a secondary school system with fair admissions & no more 11-plus. Children are more likely to succeed in high quality all-ability schools.

[Comprehensive Future @comp_future]

How transparent is the 11-plus?

FOI documents show a major test provider advising schools how to resist requests for admissions testing information.

Should details of tests that shape children's futures be hidden as "commercially confidential"?

https://t.co/tDmFzNlgrQ

[David Martin @DavidMarti15168]

Most ruthless and ambitious parents who want their children to attend grammar school arrange for them to have special tuition at home to prepare for the examination two years before it takes place. This latest move by the grammar schools will not alter the social background of their pupils.

[Natalie Bennett @natalieben]

Fascinating, if horrifying, history of academic selection in secondary schools with @comp_future

#Inequality #Discrimination
https://t.co/NelLhRxKy9

[Comprehensive Future @comp_future]

.@jldeasley interviews historian Professor Peter Mandler about the history of academic selection and what we can learn from the post-war education system. He busts those popular myths about grammar schools and social mobility. https://t.co/XLnWSRftfF

[Niknam Hussain @niknamH]

I asked once if 11+ was testing parents bank balances rather than kids abilities as tutoring costs were nearing £50 per hour

[Comprehensive Future @comp_future]

If grammar schools need to redesign the 11-plus to reduce tutoring and middle-class cramming, they’re admitting the system isn’t measuring ‘ability’ in the first place. The tutoring industry won’t disappear because the test is 6 weeks earlier. https://t.co/Bs5KuqLHFM

[Comprehensive Future @comp_future]

“If selection doesn’t improve social mobility, why are we doing it?”

Professor Peter Mandler discusses the history — and consequences — of the 11+ and academic selection in Britain.

New interview with Jack Deasley for Comprehensive Future.

Watch: https://t.co/lGYE0zWzwi

[Comprehensive Future @comp_future]

“The government will build a truly inclusive education system that works for every family.” This is a great idea, but it only works if grammar schools drop the ridiculous 11-plus admissions that discriminate against SEND pupils and poorer families. https://t.co/IsHMwBbl55

[Comprehensive Future @comp_future]

As the government talks about inclusive mainstream education, questions about selective schooling are becoming harder to avoid.

A supporter has launched this petition on grammar schools and SEND reform:
https://t.co/p5iRTAJGij

[Comprehensive Future @comp_future]

It's not about grammar schools having low FSM because "leafy suburbs." Wherever grammars are based data regularly shows two schools a mile or two apart — one takes ~3% FSM, the other ~25%+. Selection using an 11+ is the problem, not grammar schools' location.

[Andrew Neil @afneil]

Nobody tutors for apprenticeships, numpty. And if you close all the grammar schools in the inner cities and leave open those only a few in the leafy suburbs don’t be surprised if not many are on free school meals. Doh!

[Comprehensive Future @comp_future]

Research shows the 11-plus shapes identity, confidence and belonging for decades after children take it. More than 50 years on, women who sat the 11-plus still feel its effects. Selection doesn’t just sort pupils. It stays with them. https://t.co/kaBEHFX1ZA

[Comprehensive Future @comp_future]

Moving the 11-plus and aligning it with the curriculum sounds fairer… But as one tutor puts it, "Tutoring will adapt rather than disappear.” There is no such thing as a tutor proof test. https://t.co/YFGEMn50tA

[Comprehensive Future @comp_future]

“Nobody is getting in off the back of picking up half a dozen practice papers from WH Smith in the summer of year 5." When entry depends on years of paid prep, the system is surely flawed beyond fixing. https://t.co/9GIYfdour0

[Secondary Moderns @SecModerns]

@comp_future “Grammar School” areas are abetter named “Secondary Modern” areas* as there are 3x more Sec Mods than Grammars (*actually better called selective areas!).

[Comprehensive Future @comp_future]

The SEND white paper promises every child will achieve and thrive. But it assumes all schools admit a representative intake. In grammar school areas, they don't — by design. https://t.co/XQDKNTH0pk

[Comprehensive Future @comp_future]

“Results were as much about prior attainment and parental support as teaching.” A former headteacher reflects on selection, fairness, and what really shapes outcomes. https://t.co/575iBjV8hq

[Comprehensive Future @comp_future]

This reflects a wider concern about how school admissions work in practice. Where any admissions criteria limit access for local or disadvantaged children, it’s right to ask whether the system is fair.

[National Secular Society @NatSecSoc]

New polling shows that 61% of people in Britain oppose allowing state schools to select pupils based on religion. We agree. Every child should be able to attend their local school without facing discrimination because of their family’s beliefs.
https://t.co/QxT5jREWKP

[Old Primary Head @Oldprimaryhead1]

This should be screaming at us. The ‘quiet curse’ is not schools over loaded with pupils other schools do not serve, or facing the direct impact of poverty and inequity. The curse is the ease with which a school does not serve its direct community, or discourages admission.

[Comprehensive Future @comp_future]

When league tables reward results over inclusion, schools respond. The result? Fewer disadvantaged SEND pupils in top schools. Schools should reflect their communities not 'manage' who applies. #FairAdmissions #SEND https://t.co/zLaQIRxk1v

[Comprehensive Future @comp_future]

The latest @NP_Partnership Fairer Schools Index confirms what we already knew: grammar schools’ “top” rankings are often just a reflection of their selective intake, NOT better teaching. When you adjust for pupil background, their scores drop significantly.https://t.co/HGNQtk87fP