A Kent school says it has not scrapped plans to convert to a grammar, saying it is waiting to see what the government decides on its proposal for more selective schooling.

Meopham School in Gravesend had consulted parents last Semtember over the idea after the Prime Minister Theresa May announced that a ban on grammars was to be lifted.

She said more grammars would help improve the prospects for poorer brighter children.

The Department for Education recently ended a consultation on the plan but ministers are yet to come up with formal legislative proposals.

Jon Whitcombe, the principal of the Swale Academies Trust which Meopham is part of, said speculation that the school had given up on the idea was “entirely incorrect.”

“We said at the time that we would have to wait and see what the government came up with in terms of any legislation and this position has not changed. Even if we wanted to convert to a grammar today, we couldn’t do it because there is no mechanism in place,” he said.

Parents at the school were evenly split on the idea of a wholesale conversion to a selective school, he said.

"Even if we wanted to convert to a grammar today, we couldn’t do it because there is no mechanism in place" - trust principal Jon Whitcombe

“At least we will be in a position if the government does come up with plans we are in a position to effect our own proposal.”

He said the school had in the meantime moved to introduce a grammar stream without children having to sit any test.

“What has happened is that we have introduced a grammar stream for Year 7 pupils which has proved very popular.”

In a letter to parents after it had carried out its own consultation, he wrote: “We will continue to observe the national grammar debate with interest and will consult with you more formally in the future when legislation is in place.”

Kent County Council has expressed its own reservations over the government’s plans to allow new grammars, saying that it might be only a “partial solution” to the challenge of improving social mobility.

And 30-plus headteachers of non-selective schools in the county recently wrote a letter to the Prime Minister setting out their “vehement opposition” to the idea.