Anti Grammar lobby collapses

"There is very little wish among parents to get rid of Kent grammar schools' Neil Slater, head teacher, Dover Boys' Grammar School

GRAMMAR school staff, pupils and parents in Dover were celebrating this week after the campaign against selective education in Kent collapsed.

There are now calls for Education Secretary David Blunkett to abandon the legislation which, allows campaigners to gather signatures for a ballot on the controversial issue.

Anti-selection activists from the campaign group STEPP - Stop The Eleven Plus - said they had been forced to call a halt because they had been under unfair pressure to present a petition months before any ballot would actually take place.

STEP had been planning to try to trigger a ballot later this year but now says it will renew its efforts for a fresh petition in September.

It is understood that only 7,000 parents had signed the petition - a fraction of the 45,000 needed before a vote could be held.

STEP spokesman Martin Frey said:

"Either the regulations must be amended or we are under further pressure to complete this very arduous process several months before the deadline. The need for a quick start is therefore essential."

Privately, campaigners say they have spent too little time collecting signatures this year but would change that strategy next time.

The news was greeted with delight by rival group Support Kent Schools, which urged STEP to abandon its campaign completely.

SKS chairman Eric Hammond, the former trade union leader, said: "The dignified thing would be for STEP to call it quits now, rather than coming back again in September. They should accept that parents do not want change thrust on them."

Earlier this month parents in Ripon, Yorkshire, voted to retain the town's grammar school by two to one.

Neil Slater, head teacher of the Dover Boys' Grammar School, said they could now feel more secure about the school's future.

"Now we can get on with the job of further developing this excellent school," he said.

"It has been demonstrated there is very little wish among parents to get rid of Kent grammar schools, so it would be a good idea to remove the uncertainty altogether so that everyone's mind can be kept on educating children in the system we have which is running very well."

Astor School headmaster Chris Russell voiced his concern about maintaining quality education.

"As someone who is very much against selective education, it does not surprise me that this cumbersome process has ground ID a halt," he said.

"Regardless of one's point of view, I regret the huge uncertainty hanging over all schools, including grammar schools.

"I am supportive or the local authority, but I just wish our selection system was not running the risk of diluting academic standards of an the schools in this area."