Grammar schools: Thousands of new places created

There are 11,000 more grammar school pupils in England now than in 2010, BBC analysis of official data shows.

And by 2021, the data suggests, the number of extra places created will be equivalent to 24 new grammar schools compared to eight years ago.

The analysis shows a rise in numbers even before the distribution of a new £50m growth fund, announced in May.

The government says schools will be eligible for funding only if they improve access for poorer pupils.

Grammar schools are state-funded secondary schools which allocate places to pupils on the basis of their performance in an extra academic test at the end of primary school.

Prime Minister Theresa May had to drop controversial plans to overturn the ban on new schools after the last election, but the expansion of existing grammar schools has been encouraged.

More than 30 existing grammar schools are bidding for some of the first £50m slice of a new £200m government expansion fund.

Schools bidding for the cash will have to show how they intend to admit more disadvantaged pupils.

Using newly-published government data, the BBC has found that grammar schools have been continuing to grow, even before the distribution of those funds.

If schools maintain their intake at current rates, the equivalent of eight extra schools will be added by 2021 compared with this year, and 24 more compared with 2010.

Unfair selection?
Grammar schools remain controversial because they take a big slice of the children already doing well at school, making it harder for neighbouring schools to get similarly good GCSE results.

Some better-off parents invest heavily in paying for tutoring for the test, and overall very few pupils from poorer backgrounds have attended grammar schools in the past decade.

So a key part of the debate in England about grammar schools has been whether they make an effort to give places to children from families on benefits or low earnings.

If a child has received free school meals in the past six years, the school gets extra money called pupil premium funding.

We looked at the admission policies of all 163 grammar schools in England for the school year 2018-19.