Government Proposals

In 1999 Tony Worthington MP proposed looking at post-primary education. A year later the then Minister for Education Martin McGuinness MP MLA launched a review and the so-called Burns Report was published in 2001. That report proposed ending any selection of children for post-primary education. It proposed collegiates of post-primary schools. It was rejected during consultation. Respondents to a household survey rejected it, and many found the proposals baffling and unworkable. The majority of the 200,000 surveys returned rejected the 11+ as the best way to select pupils, but believed that some form of selection was necessary. A clear snub to the Government's proposals.

Another report, the Costello Report was commissioned and published. It also proposed the ending of selection, but rowed back from some of the more extreme proposals of the Burns report. It also changed the timescales for change. Now the ending of selection is set for 2008, but no firm proposals for the new season have been set.

There is a new environment for education; ever greater demands are being placed on our children; the school age population is shrinking; the need for appropriate, well-thought out selection has never been greater.

How you can help is simple – contact your local politician expressing your support for grammar schools; contact the Department of Education; speak up for the best education system in the UK.