Partially selective school (England)


In England, a partially selective school is one of a few dozen state-funded secondary schools that select a proportion of their intake by ability or aptitude, permitted as a continuation of arrangements that existed prior to 1997.
Though treated together by current legislation, they are of two types: bilateral schools in remnants of the Tripartite System, and former grant-maintained schools that introduced partial selection in the 1990s.
While technically classified as comprehensive schools, they occupy a middle ground between grammar schools and true comprehensives, and many of the arguments for and against grammar schools also apply to these schools.
Although there are relatively few schools of this type, several of them score very highly in national performance tables, and are among the most over-subscribed schools in the country.
There are no partially selective schools in Scotland and Wales, which have wholly comprehensive systems, while Northern Ireland retains a grammar system.

History

Partially selective schools are of two types:
In 1997 a Labour government was elected, with a policy of abolishing partial selection.
David Blunkett, then Secretary of State for Education and Employment, said in December 1997:
However, the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 permitted selection of up to 10% by aptitude for certain subjects for which a school is a specialist college, and also permitted the retention of partial selection that existed prior to the 1997 entry, provided that the proportion selected was no higher than that in 1997.
The 1998 Act also created schools adjudicators, empowered to rule on objections to school admission arrangements, including partial selection. This mechanism has steadily reduced both the number of schools using selection and the proportion of partial selection at the remaining schools.
These schools often also give preference to siblings of current pupils, filling the rest of their places using distance and/or faith criteria.
The sibling criterion is particularly controversial, as in combination with selection it often severely limits the number of local children admitted.
In response to these concerns, the initial draft of a revised schools admissions code proposed to ban sibling criteria in schools that selected more than 10% on their intake.
After many protests, the admissions code as published in February 2007 protected siblings of current students, and permitted schools to give priority to siblings provided that "their admission arrangements as a whole do not exclude families living nearer the school."
This phrasing was removed in the revised Code published in January 2009.
A late amendment to the Education and Inspections Act 2006 amended the 1998 Act to limit the proportion selected to the lowest level at any time since 1997. This forced four Hertfordshire schools to lower their proportion of academic selection from 35% to 25%.

Partial selection today

The following bilateral schools continue to operate in surviving fully selective areas:
LEASchoolGenderCoordinates
LincolnshireKing Edward VI AcademyMixed
ReadingReading Girls' SchoolGirls
Southend-on-SeaSt Bernard's High School for GirlsGirls
Southend-on-SeaSt Thomas More High School for BoysBoys
TorbayThe Spires CollegeMixed
WarwickshireAshlawn SchoolMixed

To be admitted to the selective stream, applicants must achieve the qualifying standard in an eleven plus exam, typically shared with local grammar schools.
In practice, some of these schools do not fill their allocation of selective places due to competition from the neighbouring grammar schools.
Unlike grammar schools, they are required to fill any remaining places with non-selective applicants.
The following schools retain partial selection introduced between 1993 and 1997:
LEASchoolGenderSelective proportion of intakeSiblingsCoordinates
BarnetMill Hill County High SchoolMixed10% technology, 10% music, 5% danceyes
CroydonThe Archbishop Lanfranc SchoolMixed15% general abilityyes
CroydonEdenham High SchoolMixed15% general abilityyes
CroydonRiddlesdown High SchoolMixed15% general abilityno
CroydonShirley High SchoolMixed15% general abilityyes
DorsetBudmouth Technology CollegeMixed12% general abilityyes
DudleyOld Swinford HospitalBoys27% general abilityyes
EssexThe King John SchoolMixed15% general abilityyes
HertfordshireDame Alice Owen's SchoolMixed32.5% general ability, 5% musicyes
HertfordshireParmiter's SchoolMixed25% general ability, 10% musicyes
HertfordshireQueens' SchoolMixed35% general ability, 5% music, 5% sportyes
HertfordshireRickmansworth SchoolMixed25% general ability, 10% musicyes
HertfordshireSt. Clement Danes SchoolMixed10% general ability, 10% musicyes
HertfordshireWatford Grammar School for BoysBoys25% general ability, 10% musicyes
HertfordshireWatford Grammar School for GirlsGirls25% general ability, 10% musicyes
KentArchbishop's SchoolMixed15% general abilityyes
KentChaucer Technology SchoolMixed15% general ability or technologyyes
KentHomewood SchoolMixed20% general ability, 1% musicyes
KentWestlands SchoolMixed10% mathsyes
LambethArchbishop Tenison's SchoolBoysweighted bandingyes
LambethLondon Nautical SchoolBoysnautical or sportyes
LancashireRipley St. Thomas School, LancasterMixed15% language
LiverpoolKing David High SchoolMixed17% musicyes
LiverpoolSt Hilda's Church of England High SchoolGirls15% general abilityno
LiverpoolSt Margaret's Church of England AcademyBoys15% general abilityno
NottinghamNottingham Bluecoat SchoolMixed10% maths and scienceyes
PeterboroughThe Kings SchoolMixed10% general ability, 2.5% musicyes
PoolePoole High SchoolMixed10% general abilityyes
Southend-on-SeaCecil Jones AcademyMixed10% general abilityyes
Southend-on-SeaShoeburyness High SchoolMixed10% general abilityyes
SurreyThe Winston Churchill SchoolMixed9% general ability, 5% musicyes
SuttonGreenshaw High SchoolMixed24% general abilityyes
WandsworthBurntwood SchoolGirls25% general abilityyes
WandsworthChestnut Grove SchoolMixed18% art and design, 18% languagesyes
WandsworthErnest Bevin CollegeBoys⅓ general abilityyes
WandsworthGraveney SchoolMixed25% general abilityyes

All of these schools are over-subscribed. All except Old Swinford Hospital, Archbishop Tenison's School and the London Nautical School select the highest scoring applicants under each criterion.