Top and bottom of league tables for Maidstone

Letter to the Kent Messenger on school performance in Maidstone after Maidstone had the top and bottom schools nationally, due to its selective education system.

Dear Editor,

While congratualtions are due to Invicta Grammar School, Maidstone's achievment of both top and bottom slots on the education league tables is simply a function of our outdated, unnecessary and unfair selective education. Selection benefits the few at the expense of the many. It wastes huge amounts of money and divides families and communities.

Kent's overall GCSE results were only slightly higher than the national average, but so were comprehensive areas such as Sussex, Lambeth and Hackney.

At A Level, Kent is well below the national average - no surprise when three quarters of children are told at 10 yrs old they are not suitable for higher levels of education. So much potential is being wasted by the 11+ system.

With a third of all grammars losing value for their students (having a contextual vallue added score less than 1000), it is high time that Kent rethought its archaic and unfair approach to education.

Stuart Jeffery
Green Party parliamentary candidate for Maidstone and the Weald