Yet, selection is precisely what the government is trying to remove from school admissions. The new education bill is adamant in its aim to move away from the old way of thinking in its bid to “ensure that every child in every community gets the education they need to fulfil their potential”. As well as reaffirming the ban on new selection by ability, the new legislation will outlaw interviewing; strengthen the status of the code on school admissions and create a new power for admission forums to produce an annual report and refer objections to the schools.

There are currently 164 grammar schools in the UK and the Prime Minister claims that their future is safe, even though the Government has succeeded in closing them in Northern Ireland. Tony Blair told the Guardian that to scrap grammar schools would be to start a war with parents throughout the country. “If you want the entire education debate dominated by a war, which is what it would be, over the remaining 160 grammar schools, well you can do that. I ask you which party is saying that is a war they want,” he said.

But despite this, there are members of the Labour Party who want precisely that. Last year, member of the Commons education select committee David Chaytor said there was widespread support for the idea of scrapping England’s grammar schools. “It is contradictory to say that selection by ability is not acceptable for most of the country, while still endorsing it in certain parts of the country that happened to select by ability before 1997,” he said. “Selecting children by ability at 11 and therefore inevitably failing thousands and thousands of children a year is a very, very powerful issue for most Labour MPs. If the Government decided to bite the bullet and apply for our non-selective policy consistently across all schools in the country that would certainly be well received.”

Sir Cyril Taylor, a key Government advisor and Chairman of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust endorses this view. He believes that the grammar school system is not serving those it was intended for. “The 164 grammar schools left have one per cent of their pupils eligible for free school meals,” he said last month. “They have become free independent schools for the middle classes. What we need is good schools across the board.”

But what do the electorate think? A poll of 1000 people conducted by the Centre for Policy Studies found that 76 per cent believed that the more academic children at secondary school would maximise their potential by being taught separately. Of these, 40 per cent were in favour of children being streamed by ability within comprehensive schools but only 36 per cent wanted them to be sent to a wholly selective school. In total, around 73 per cent of people believed that less academic children would be better stretched in streamed classes or by attending selective schools.

The problem appears to be that the current system concentrates on getting all the students to reach certain minimum standards, and this comes at the expense of stretching the brightest pupils. This has led to falling standards and the fear that UK will not be able to compete internationally. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) figures for its Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) showed the UK slipping from fourth to 11th place in science and from eighth to 18th in Maths between the years of 2000 and 2003. But tellingly, when Pisa divided state schools from the private sector, UK schools came top.

Eric Anderson, Tony Blair’s former housemaster at Fettes College in Edinburgh believes the 40-year experiment with comprehensive schools has fallen short of its aims. In his foreword to Lord Blackwell’s report he wrote. “(The experiment) was meant to provide in Harold Wilson’s words, ‘grammar schools for all’ and it was meant to lead to increased social mobility. It has done neither. It has not raised the standards of all and, as recent studies show, we now have a less mobile society than we had in the 1950s and 1960s.”

It appears that the current situation is failing not only the brightest pupils, but also the less able students in deprived areas. Instead of selection by ability, higher house prices in areas with decent comprehensives has led to selection by parental income, in much the same way as independent schools.

The Government is trying to tackle education problems in underprivileged areas with its City Academy programme but many are dubious as to whether bright new buildings will have any real effect on exam results. The Government also announced plans last month to award vouchers for extra lessons to the brightest 800,000 pupils in the country. Under the scheme, every secondary and primary school will be told to supply the names of 10 per cent of pupils who best meet new criteria for the gifted and talented programme, when they fill in the schools consensus this month. This seems like a strange scheme for a Government intent on not selecting according to ability.

In addition, the Government has allowed some schools with specialist status the right to select 10 per cent of their intake based on their aptitude for certain subjects. To say the current situation is confusing would be an understatement. The problem appears to be that the Government believes that selection is a vote loser. Who wants to pay tax in order to provide for a neighbour’s brighter child?

Would it not be fairer to all to accept that some children are more able academically and to allow them to flourish in a more demanding educational environment? This seems to be also more just to those who need more help with their studies. It certainly appears to be a much better way of giving those from underprivileged backgrounds a chance to get a similar type of education to that offered by independent schools.

Of course, it would be wonderful to provide a top education for all but in order to achieve that other factors need to be taken into consideration. Pupils need to be supported by teachers who are motivated and enjoy what they do. They also need to have back-up from parents who appreciate the work the school is doing. This is clearly not the case for many students in many schools in the UK.

Brian Wills-Pope, Chairman of the National Grammar Schools Association believes that attracting the right teachers is key to the success of grammar schools. “Grammar schools tend to attract teachers who want to specialise. Too often these days in inner city comprehensives, there are behavioural problems and teachers are sworn and spat at. What a life! I admire teachers who can put up with that. Bright pupils need fulfilled teachers. Is there any wonder there is a shortage of head teachers in this country?”

Ask most ex grammar school pupils about their education and they will wax lyrical about the opportunities they were offered that would not have come their way otherwise. Life is enough of a lottery for kids today, without postcode being another factor in their education. The debate should not be on whether to select by ability but on how this selection process can be fair and take into consideration the ongoing development of a child, in order to ensure that he or she does not miss out. Most agree that the 11-plus concept is outdated but if we wait for GCSEs to prove a child’s academic worth this is clearly already too late.

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