CLAUSE 104(4) of the Schools Standards and Framework Act 1998 (SSFA1998) starts by stating: 'where a maintained school is a grammar school ...' and goes on to lay down the law about the removal of 'selective admission arrangements' (SAAs) at a grammar school
104(4)(b) is a powerful prohibition on the use of anything for the removal of SAAs, except the procedures in 104(4)(a). 104(4)(a) can only be operated by governors or parents from the feeder primary schools.
Ripon: March 2000: The only parental
ballot held under section 105 of the SSFA1998. The parents from Ripon Grammar School's feeder primary schools voted two to one to keep the school.
Gloucester: June 2004: An attempt to close the four Gloucester grammar schools was defeated when the significance of 104(4) was understood.
The LEA had tried to pretend that 104(4) did not exist.
Stoke: February 2008: An attempt to con the governors of St Joseph's College (www.save-st-josephs.co.uk) into removing the SAAs under section 109 'for 24 hours for administrative reasons'. Defeated when the governors were briefed on the significance of 104(4).
Boston: Now. An attempt by the governors to remove the SAAs of Boston Grammar School under section 109. 109(3)(b) allows the parents to overrule the governors by means of a ballot.
Have I now sufficiently briefed the parents that they could make their decision according to 104(4), in the event that the governors propose the removal of the SAAs of BGS?
PAUL DODGSHUN
By Email
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