Secondary modern school
From 1965 onwards (following Circular 10/65), secondary moderns were replaced in most of the UK by the comprehensive school system.
[10] It was envisaged that the secondary modern would 'provide a series of courses for children of widely differing ability, aptitude and social background.
It has to cater for the needs of intelligent boys and girls, for those with a marked practical bent, as well as for the special problem of the backward children'.
[11] At a secondary modern school there was a core curriculum of 'English (or English and Welsh), mathematics, history, geography and science.
Many more were built between the end of World War II and 1965, in an effort to provide universal secondary education.
[20][21][22]: 194–195 The most academically able of students in secondary modern schools found that a potential progression to advanced post-secondary studies or higher education was constrained by limitations within their schools, the wider educational system and access to higher external examinations.
[20] Although parity of esteem between this and the other sections of the tripartite system had been planned, in practice the secondary modern came to be seen as the school for failures.
[30] Paraskos also claimed in The Guardian that those who attend secondary modern schools 'are condemned to a lifetime of social exclusion and crippling self-doubt.
'[31] According to Anthony Sampson, in his book Anatomy of Britain (1965), there were structural problems within the testing process that underpinned the eleven plus which meant it tended to result in secondary modern schools being overwhelmingly dominated by the children of poor and working-class parents, while grammar schools were dominated by the children of wealthier middle-class parents.
In the 1950's a few LEA's (local education authorities), such as Leicestershire, eliminated their secondary moderns as part of an early comprehensivisation.
By 1976, with the exception of areas which held out against 10/65, such as Bournemouth, Buckinghamshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Stoke, Ripon, Slough, Torquay, the Wirral and Warwickshire (part), secondary modern schools had been formally phased out in the UK, except Northern Ireland.
[37] The organisation represents non-selective schools in selective areas[38] and has organised a number of national conferences since it was founded, such as one in April 2016 addressed by Shadow Secretary of State for Education Lucy Powell, Tim Leunig from the Department for Education, and National Schools Commissioner Sir David Carter, among others.
[citation needed] Ofsted admits it does not have a record of the number of secondary moderns and that its inspectors have received no training on how to assess them.
[citation needed] They are prevented from awarding the highest grades to a school as that would require the data to take into account the differing intakes.
