All 64 secondary school headteachers in Surrey have signed an open letter to the prime minister and education secretary expressing their “vehement opposition” to the government’s proposals for grammar schools.

The open letter was also sent to the county’s 11 MPs including Epsom and Ewell MP and transport secretary Chris Grayling, Runnymede and Weybridge MP and Chancellor Philip Hammond and Esher and Walton MP Dominic Raab this week.

The government is currently consulting on plans to reverse Labour’s 1998 ban on new grammar schools. In a Department for Education (DfE) statement, a spokesperson affirmed the government’s position, adding that it aims to “provide stretching education for the most academically able, regardless of their background”.

The DfE pointed to a report carried out in Knowsley, Liverpool by think tank ResPublica that found that for ‘poor but bright’ pupils, grammar schools can boost their performance by nearly 10 per cent compared to non-selective schools.

But concerned headteachers in Surrey argue a selective school system – in which students take an 11-plus exam to gain entry to grammar schools – instils a “stigma of failure” in those who do not make the grade, and leaves behind “late developers”.

In Surrey, which has a fully comprehensive education system, 95 per cent of schools are rated either ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. In neighbouring Kent, which still has grammar schools, 85 per cent of schools have similar standings.

The headteachers’ open letter reads: “We are writing to voice our deeply held, vehement opposition to the government’s proposals to create a selective, segregated, two-tier state funded system of education, as outlined in the government consultation ‘Schools that work for everyone’.

“At its best, the government’s selective school proposals represent further confusion and fragmentation of England’s education policy.

“At its worst, this policy is predicated on a nostalgic and unrealistic vision of society, the debate around which deflects attention from the real issues facing schools today.”

The 64 signatories claim such issues include funding cuts, a recruitment crisis and the introduction of new GSCE qualifications with yet to be defined grade boundaries “to name but a few.”

In the letter, the teachers cite the conclusions of the Education Policy Institute’s ‘Grammar Schools and Social Mobility’ report, published in September, that: “There is no significant positive impact of selective systems of education on social mobility.

“Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are under-represented in grammar schools.

“Once prior attainment and pupil background is taken into consideration, there is no overall attainment impact of grammar schools, either positive or negative.

“In a comparison of high attaining pupils in grammar schools with similar pupils who attend high quality non selective schools, there are five times as many high quality non selective schools as there are grammar schools.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The government wants to make this a country that works for everyone, not just the privileged few. Grammar schools have a track record of closing the attainment gap between children on free school meals and their better off classmates, and 99 per cent of grammars schools are rated good or outstanding.

“We want all children, whatever their background, to have access to an education that will unlock their talents. That’s why we will scrap the ban on new grammar schools and make more good school places available, to more parents, in more parts of the country.”

Got a story? Get in touch at craig.richard@london.newsquest.co.uk