Grammar wars: Philip Glanville among speakers at Progress rally on schools

Mayor Philip Glanville

Mayor of Hackney Philip Glanville is to speak at a rally in Parliament on Monday after stepping up his war on grammar schools in an article for the latest issue of Progress magazine.

He lambasted grammar school expansion and “other Tory attacks”, saying Hackney was a beacon of educational achievement.

The borough has no grammar schools and recently celebrated GCSE results that were among the best in the country.

In his article, the mayor wrote: “When challenging the Tories on education, Labour must ground our campaigning in what works – looking to and championing our experience in local and national government to take them on, not only with our values, but also our record.

“As Michael Wilshaw, chief inspector of Ofsted and a former headteacher of Mossbourne Academy in Hackney, has said, reintroducing selection at 11 years old would be a ‘profoundly retrograde step’.

“Wilshaw has made it clear that he could never have achieved what he did at Mossbourne without, as he puts it, that top 20 per cent, who instead of being creamed off into grammar schools, inspire and lift the rest of the school, in a comprehensive setting.”

His remarks follow Town Hall clashes between Labour councillors and their political rivals on the issue of grammar schools.

In October Liberal Democrat councillors abstained from voting and Conservative councillors voted against a motion proposed by Cllr Mete Coban backing “inclusive education” in Hackney.

The borough is in the top five “anti grammar school” areas of England, a YouGov survey found earlier this year.