UKIP's grammar schools call opposed by Conservative AMs

Conservative assembly members have said they are "not persuaded" that allowing schools to select pupils by ability is "appropriate" in Wales.

Prime Minister Theresa May has announced that all schools in England will be able to do so, under plans also allowing grammar schools to expand.

On Wednesday, UKIP called for the grammar system's re-introduction in Wales, in a Senedd debate.

Wales' education secretary has called grammar schools a "distraction".

Kirsty Williams, the only Liberal Democrat member of the Labour Welsh Government, told her party's conference on Sunday selective education was a "distraction Welsh education can do without" and promises she would never allow such a system in Wales.

Wales' last selective state school, Whitland Grammar School in Carmarthenshire, closed in 1988, and UKIP was the only party in the 2016 assembly election promising a return to selective education.

It would mean pupils being tested at the age of 11, with the brightest going to grammar schools and those not getting top grades attending other schools.

Under the old selective system non-grammar state schools were called secondary moderns.

The Welsh Conservatives raised the prospect of re-introducing a form of grammar schools in 2013, but the idea failed to make it into the party's 2016 assembly election manifesto.

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In Wednesday's debate, UKIP AMs called for "the re-introduction of grammar schools in Wales to produce an educational system which provides the best opportunities for children of all abilities", arguing that "a reduction in social mobility has gone hand in hand with a cut in grammar school places".

The Conservatives argued instead for "extending parental and pupil choice" as "the best way to improve standards in our schools".

They called on the Welsh Government to "free schools up from local authority control and enable popular schools to expand to enable more pupils to access schools that they and their parents choose".

There are currently around 163 grammar schools in England, out of some 3,000 state secondary schools, and a further 69 grammar schools in Northern Ireland.

Plaid Cymru's Shadow Education Secretary Llyr Gruffydd said his party felt grammar schools "encourage educational inequalities", but accused the Welsh Conservatives of being "completely confused" about their stance on the issue.