A Labour peer and former trade union chief is to attempt to bring in a law to phase out the 11-plus and convert Kent’s grammar schools into non-selective ones.

The proposal to scrap the country’s remaining 163 grammar schools - of which 31 are in Kent - will be put forward by the Labour peer and former General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, Baroness Blower.

She said her Bill showed “how straightforward it would be to change all remaining grammar schools and reform the many partially selective ones.”

Under the scheme, there would be no test for children to determine which school they go to.

According to Baroness Blower, her plan “offers a workable and carefully phased plan to bring admission policies for England’s remaining 163 grammar schools into line with every other state-funded secondary school.”

The Private Members Bill has been supported by the campaign group Comprehensive Future.

Chairman Dr Nuala Burgess, said: “We believe that a Lords debate will show the extent of cross-party support for the idea that academic selection is unnecessary and must go.”

“The Bill, if enacted into law, offers a workable and carefully phased plan to bring admission policies for England’s remaining 163 grammar schools into line with every other state-funded secondary school.

Areas burdened with an education system designed for the 1940s will finally be brought up to date.”

Under the arrangements for converting selective schools into non-selective ones, there would be a consultation with those schools affected while councils would be expected to co-operate with the transition.

Under existing legislation, new grammar schools are not permitted but can expand where there is a demand for more places because of a growing population.

A ‘satellite’ grammar school annexe was opened in Sevenoaks in 2017 after a campaign calling for extra places in the town.

The annexe is part of The Weald of Kent Girls Grammar School.

A similar annexe for boys was opened in 2021 on the same site as an expansion of the Tunbridge Wells Boys' Grammar School.