AN ESSEX grammar school should expand by setting up a new campus in Basildon, according to councillors.

Two motions calling for Basildon Council to support grammar schools in the borough will be debated at a full council meeting on Thursday.

Ukip group leader Linda Allport-Hodge, one of the councillors to propose a motion, said a new site is needed to give youngsters in the area a “fighting chance."

She said: “There is nothing more important for young people than enhancing their life choices.

“Basildon has committed itself to economic growth, so I want our children to get these jobs in the future.

“To do that, we need to improve the education that students in the borough get across the board.

“We need academies and vocational schools, but we also need a grammar school with a sixth form in the borough.”

Four schools in Southend and Westcliff are among the 164 remaining fully selective state schools in the country, but Government policy prevents new grammars being set up.

Mrs Allport-Hodge added: “Abolishing grammar schools was the biggest act of social vandalism since the Second World War.

“We need to give our youngsters a fighting chance, regardless of their social background.

“It costs a fortune to keep sending them on buses to Southend or Westcliff, so we need to look at an annex.

“Obviously grammar schools are not Government policy at the moment, so this would seem the most sensible way forward.”

Amanda Arnold, Tory councillor for Pitsea South East, has also put forward a motion calling for a Basildon grammar school site.

She said: “It is the right of every child of every ability to have access the best facilities to enable them to reach their full academic potential.

“Therefore we would urge existing grammar schools to consider extending their resources to create a new Basildon annex for the benefit of future generations.”

Echo:

Rejected: An artist impression of the rejected sixth form expansion

GRAMMAR SCHOOL HAS SIXTH FORM PLANS DASHED

THE argument for a grammar school in Basildon could be helped by problems expanding existing sites.

On Friday, the Echo reported Southend High School for Boys had been refused permission for a £3million project to expand its sixth form centre.

Southend Council had been expected to approve the application, but planning committee members voiced concerns about extra traffic and potential parking problems in the area.

The school’s sixth form, in Prittlewell Chase, is massively oversubscribed, with 303 applications for 93 available places last year.

Anne Jones, Southend councillor responsible for education, voiced her disappointment at the decision and said there was an urgent need for sixth form places in the area.

Dr Robin Bevan, headteacher of Southend High School for Boys, has been contacted for comment by the Echo.

Sixth-form places in Basildon will be improved when South Essex College completes its anticipated £30million move to a new campus in Basildon town centre in 2018.

The move will allow the college to offer A-level courses in Basildon for the first time.