Britain to get first new grammar school in 50 years

Her decision is likely to be applauded by senior Tory MPs, who have called for an expansion of grammar schools to be included in the Conservative manifesto. The new school will open in

Sevenoaks, Kent, officially as an "annexe" of the existing Weald of Kent school nine miles away. The new grammar – which already has planning permission and a £16 million building

fund – will admit 90 pupils a year from 2016. Previous proposals were rejected by Michael Gove, then education secretary, after they failed to clear bureaucratic hurdles put in place by the

previous Labour government. Kent county council has insisted that the updated plan will be "compliant with the regulations" which state that any new grammarschool must be the

satellite campus of an existing institution. The previous plan would have created a mixed "annexe" to the existing girls' grammarschool. Under the revised plan, the new site

will also be girls only. The Daily Telegraph understands that Mrs Morgan believes the new application is "much stronger" and is likely to approve it in January. David Cameron and

his education ministers have so far resisted calls to rexpeal a ban on the opening of new grammar schools, which select pupils on the basis of academic ability. But a grassroots Tory group,

Conservative Voice, is building support among backbench MPs for a change in policy which it says would be popular with millions of middleclass parents. Damian Green, one of the MPs, said:

"I'm delighted that this will be the first new grammar school for decades. I hope it's the first of many. It shows that it is possible to create grammar schools even under the

existing laws." There are 164 grammars in England. The best dominate secondary school league tables for exam performance.