Grammar Schools (Reinstatement) Bill

A

BILL

TO

Make provision to reinstate grammar schools and the Grammar School Commission; and for connected purposes.

Be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

Section 1: Reinstatement of Grammar Schools

(1) The Grammar Schools Act 2023 is hereby repealed.

(2) The Grammar Schools Reform Act 2020 is reinstated.

Section 2: Extent, Commencement and Short Title

(1) This Act extends to England.

(2) This Act comes into force upon receiving Royal Assent.

(3) This Act may be cited as the Grammar Schools (Reinstatement) Act.

This bill was written by The Most Honourable Sir u/model-willem KD KT KP OM GCMG KCT KCB CBE MVO PC MP, The Leader of the British Alternative, Member of Parliament for South East (List).

Deputy Speaker,

In the manifesto from British Alternative we put freedom of choice at the heart and centre of our policy outline. The bill that I present to the House of Commons here today is one of the bills that is going to promote this freedom of choice. Last term I tried to let this bill pass already, because I believe that people should have the ability to send their children to grammar schools if they wish to do so and no government should block the ability of parents to choose the school of their children, if the school is safe.

Last term we saw a bill proposed by GroKo that was trying to limit the possibilities of parents to select a school that they want to send their children to, by banning single-sex schools. It is something that I don’t believe we should be doing, further limiting the different types of schools that exist. We’re seeing an anti-freedom of choice movement existing here, fuelled by the leftist parties and the British Alternative will do everything in its power to prevent that from happening.

The education system is built to improve the lives of people and children in particular. We all send our children to a school to make sure that they improve their knowledge or their skills, in order to improve their lives in the long run. I believe that grammar schools can have a key role in ensuring that we give people more and better opportunities in life. Grammar schools select what students can go to their schools, making sure that the students that have good academic opportunities can go to these schools and learn amongst their peers with similar academic knowledge.

A lot of studies have shown that peer-to-peer teaching is one of the most effective ways for children to learn something new and for people who are performing very well academically it can be challenging to learn from their peers if they do not have peers with similar interests or knowledge levels. Grammar schools can be the solution for those children, as they can learn amongst children with similar interests and with a similar level of knowledge.

This bill will not only repeal the Grammar Schools Act 2023, but will also reinstate the Grammar Schools Reform Act 2020, a bill from the former Libertarian Party UK. The LPUK was a party that had freedom of choice as one of their key aspects as well, something that the British Alternative has too. By reinstating this bill we can create new grammar schools, but also reinstate the Commission that makes it their goal to create grammar schools in parts of the country that do not have these kinds of schools right now, making sure that we increase freedom of school choice everywhere in England.

I urge everyone to support this bill from the British Alternative to create more freedom of choice in our education system, as it will only improve student outcomes in the end and thus improve the United Kingdom.

This division closes on 27th March 2024 at 10PM GMT.