EXPANSION plans by a top girls' school have come under fire from the head of a secondary.

Dr Andrew Cummings, of South Craven School at Cross Hills, has signed two open letters to the Prime Minister opposing the move.

Skipton Girls' High School, which has selective entry to year seven, is proposing to increase its intake from 116 to 140.

Dr Cummings told us: "All students deserve a great education and our results this year show we are near to securing that in Craven.

"The proposals to expand selection will, I am certain, set this back and mean that standards overall will fall and opportunities for the majority of children be diminished.

"I have read two heartfelt and moving pieces about the impact of selection on young people, one from a student who passed the 11+ and one who failed.

"As a school we are proud that we've sent students who failed the 11+ to Oxford or Cambridge, but the fact that we have only goes to show the weakness of the selective system."

He added: "Last week, I was privileged to watch our school production of Les Misérables. It was truly awe-inspiring.

"I drove home that night angry that all the work we do as a school is being diminished by politicians who want to see South Craven students as second best. They are not."

One of the letters signed by Dr Cummings is also supported by 19 other North Yorkshire secondary school headteachers and the other by all the heads in the Red Kite Teaching School Alliance.

They state that while county education bosses welcomed a Government commitment to addressing poor educational attainment and lack of social mobility, they opposed an increase in selection as a potential solution.

South Craven's governing body has also condemned the proposals.

In a hard-hitting statement, the school said the trend across the world was away from early selection.

It claimed grammar schools were incompatible with parental choice, with most children being denied access to what were considered the 'best' schools.

"South Craven governors further argue that expanding provision for girls only would be discriminatory and create gender imbalance at mixed schools," it added.

"That would mean more schools becoming secondary moderns, threatening the ability of a school such as South Craven to operate a successful sixth form."

Skipton Girls', which has about 800 students and has been rated outstanding twice in succession by Ofsted, is currently carrying out a consultation on the expansion plans.

John Baker, the school's finance director, said: "We are midway through the consultation process and as part of that we have received a response from South Craven School.

"It is an open consultation involving all interested parties and we are still taking comments at the moment.

"When that process comes to an end, on December 16, the governors will assess all the feedback before a decision is made.

"It wouldn't be appropriate at this stage to comment on those responses."