I recall we used to have strict discipline and a broad curriculum at grammar school 25 years ago, before the politicians and their "expert" advisors trashed them. It's a scandel that an entire generation of children has been disadvantaged by the political manipulation of the education system.

Chris K, Cheltenham, UK

There is massive variation in performance of academies which points to other factors than just having new buildings as being important to performance. Why aren't these other factors being analysed and the findings used to improve all schools including the academies that are failing?

Derek Emery, Bedworth, UK

Grammar schools are SELECTIVE. Just because they grab the most intelligent children does not mean they provide a better education. The comprehensive are handicapped by having to educate a range of abilities!! If all schools were grammar their performance would reflect the wider population!!

james, hove,

Like The National Lottery [and the Sports Funding arm it generated] that is now reaping wonderful rewards through our 2008 British Olympic Team, these 'Academies' were seeded by Sir John Major, before duplicitously being plaguerised by cynically disingenuous McLabour, who originally opposed both.

dave, cumbria,

Academies are state-sponsored but entirely under private control. Who thought this was a good idea? There are multiple examples of academies abusing this "independence" to teach jihad or creationism, paid for by your taxes.

Richard, Cambridge,

Is it the white tax payer's job to subsidize foreign migrants to the UK in city schools - and claim they deserve princely educations? This is a bad boondoggle causing immigration problems which ought to be curbed.

Joan , Princeton, USA

Regardless of what we call them, does this mean we are to build new schools at last. Will our kids be given class rooms instead of portacabins, taught in english, given security and cctv, and leave school able to read ,write, add and subtract enough to gain decent employment. Forget excellence.

k.livitt, hove,

You all miss the point this is all about the privateers getting their hands on the taxpayers purse.Adonis,quoting Blair said"what matters is what works...yeah...the railways,the utility companies...supermarket prices....have all worked a treat for the profiteers but are a disaster for for us all

jim, wrexham, wales

State education is not under democratic control, never has been.

You drive up standards by giving parents more powers in the way schools are run, not simply by privatising them.

Let's hear it for Ivan Illich whose time has come.

Tom MacFarlane, Thornton, U.K.

But will any of these schools be centres of excellence for vocational training? I'm not at all sure what an Academy is.Also no religious sponsers please of any denomination.

William, Nuneaton, UK

A step in the right direction, but go further introduce education vouchers so that all schools are fee paying, vouchers will allow more children to get better a education which will benefit the UK ecconomy and the UK population as a whole. GB olympic team is an example of selection as Alice T wrote

roger, london,

Govt must accept that some children are more talented than others and adopt policy: - to each according to his (her) needs.
We cannot accept nonsense of so many achieving "higher grades".
Employers have to compete in real world and want reliable grading. Relevant skills.

Leigh Vernier, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Easy to say we should shun poor performing schools. But we listed five schools in order of preference last year, and were allocated a dire institution I would not dream of sending my child to. The Government pretend there is a choice that simply does not exist.

Katie Brown, Chatham, Kent

The most over-subscribed and popular state schools are Grammar schools.
Why persist with Politically Correct but dysfunctional single-tier secondary schooling?
It leads to massive inequality as the mediocre rich buy education, while the able poor are kept down, in the sink-state schools.

Pat, Coramandel, NZ

A great idea as long as they drop the fictional religious teaching completely.

m wilson, bidache, france