The National Grammar Schools Association is an organisation in the United Kingdom which campaigns for the promotion of selective education.

History

It was formed in the 1970s. Following

Circular 10/65 Circular 10/65 was a government circular issued in 1965 by the Department of Education and Science (DES) requesting Local Education Authorities (LEAs) in England and Wales to begin converting their secondary schools to the Comprehensive System. Fo ...

in 1965, issued by the Wilson Labour government (grammar school-educated Wilson sent both his sons to the independent

University College School ("Slowly but surely") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , religion = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Mark Beard , r_head_label = , r_he ...

), LEAs across the UK dismantled most grammar schools. However, many comprehensive areas have

sixth form college A sixth form college is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A Levels, Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) and the International Baccalaureate Di ...

s (for many there is no other choice of school after 16) which are often in former grammar schools and usually have equally high standards as grammar schools at A level. The

United Kingdom Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...

publicly supports selective education.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland was not affected by the Circular 10/65, and has kept all its grammar schools. However, there are current well-formed proposals, largely (if not solely) driven by

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

, to turn Northern Ireland comprehensive.

Academic concerns of comprehensive schools

At GCSE, comprehensive schools, on the whole, are able to get children to an adequate standard, except for most inner cities. However at

A level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...

, notably in science, comprehensive school areas weight-for-weight do not generally produce comparative results with areas with grammar schools. This may be a supply and demand question, because areas with grammar schools have higher average house prices.

Function

It represents the 164

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

s in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and the 69 in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

that are in existence. Two thirds of English

LEA Lea or LEA may refer to: Places Australia * Lea River, Tasmania, Australia * Lake Lea, Tasmania, from which the Lea River flows * RAAF Base Learmonth, IATA airport code "LEA" England * Lea, Cheshire, a civil parish * Lea, Derbyshire, a set ...

s do not have grammar schools. It produces the publication called ''NGSA News''. It seeks to prevent the few Labour-controlled LEAs that have grammar schools from taking them into the comprehensive system. The Chairman is the former Unionist MP for North Down from 1995-2001.

External links

National Grammar Schools Association

News items