Thurrock Council is “building momentum” towards grammar schools opening in Thurrock, councillors said today, as the government started the process this morning of lifting the 18 year old ban on selective schooling.

Grammar schools hit the headlines this weekend after Prime Minister Theresa May announced last week she would be backing school reforms as part of her ‘social reform agenda.’

Portfolio holder for education Councillor James Halden said the council would be looking at building an entirely new grammar school if funding from the government’s £50 million came through.

If the plans go ahead, every school in England will have the opportunity to convert to a grammar or selective school, including both state comprehensives and academies.

New grammars will be forced to take a quota of pupils from poor backgrounds.

Councillor Halden said: “We want Thurrock thinking about Thurrock in terms of a borough that is really up for this, which is why we are building momentum around the proposals.

“The fact of the matter is that we want Thurrock seen as a forward-thinking borough. We are showing ourselves as the kind of borough which has got big ambitions.

“Kids in Southend have got four grammar schools, and we have got kids in Thurrock we might not be able to move to that area to go to a grammar school.

“Kids in Southend do have an advantage over kids in Thurrock, and we need to level the playing field.”

In terms of timing, Mr Halden added: “There’s going to be a public consultation from government first I think - to make sure proposals are geared towards more deprived communities.

“We are waiting for the details to the speech – but the general direction of travel is that grammar schools are back on the agenda.

“We are saying, we are not hanging around on this, we are putting our case together to make the arguments so we can put in our bid when the time comes.”

Mr Halden said details of the proposals had yet to be confirmed but Thurrock education chiefs had been looking at grammar school proposals for some time.

Mr Halden explained: “In an ideal world we would like to build a new grammar school in Thurrock, but it is all speculation until we get more details from government.

“We are also talking about a brand new grammar school which would not necessarily be dependent on government funding – before this happened we were looking at the possibility of building an annex to an existing school, so it would also be a brand new school in theory.”

He said: “We have got some brilliant schools and academies in Thurrock and they will still receive our full support.

“The main point I want to get across to everyone is that grammar schools really do accelerate social mobility. Grammar schools are an additional arrow in the quiver.”

Mr Halden added: “Grammar schools will provide an extra level of competition which is healthy for all schools.”

“Most importantly, the bottom line about grammar schools is if you’re from a low income family and might not be able to afford to get to the kind of school you might prefer, they give social mobility regardless of their financial circumstances.”

Ukip shadow portfolio holder Angela Sheridan said it was “fantastic news” for the borough.

She said: “Grammar schools are the first step to reintroducing social mobility. The years of a privately educated few having access to the best education are coming to an end.

"We need to make sure we are improving all schools in Thurrock. Grammar schools are a welcome start but let’s make sure they are one of several options available for all students to succeed whatever their skills set maybe.”

Not all voices were united in favour of the news.

Former education portfolio holder and Labour party leader Councillor John Kent called it a return to 1950s style ‘them and us’ policies.

He said: “The suggestion of bringing grammar schools back in order to increase competition between schools is deeply flawed.

“Thurrock schools have improved greatly over the past few years, in part at least, because of their strong collaboration.

“Fifty years on we are still fighting to get more children from working class families into the top universities.

“Yet if we harvest the top ten or 15 per cent of children who are on top form on one day when they are 11 years old, what happens to the remaining 90 per cent? What hope do they have?”

In Prime Minister May’s speech last week, she said: "The truth is that we already have selection in our school system - and it's selection by house price, selection by wealth. That is simply unfair.

"We are effectively saying to poorer and some of the most disadvantaged children in our country that they can't have the kind of education their richer counterparts can enjoy."