OPPONENTS of Kent’s 11-plus system have vowed to continue their campaign to end it after education secretary Charles Clarke said the Government would limit selection in schools but ruled out scrapping grammars.

Mr Clarke said the 11-plus was “quite the wrong way for anybody to be chosen to go to school in any whatsoever” and did “a disservice to all children to all the children who go through that system.”

His remarks came during a question and answer session with delegates at the Labour party conference.

However, he stopped short of saying he planned to scrap the country’s remaining 164 grammar schools, 33 of which are in Kent and six in Medway.

Instead, it is likely that specialist schools – many of which are comprehensives – will be prevented from selecting up to ten per cent of their pupils based on aptitude.

Concern over the Labour’s reluctance to end the 11-plus also surfaced at a conference fringe meeting.

Two former Labour health ministers, Frank Dobson and Lord Hunt and Fiona Millar, the partner of former Downing Street press chief Alastair Campbell, all called on the Government to act.

Mr Clarke’s comments drew a mixed reaction from supporters and opponents of Kent’s selective system.

Rebecca Matthews, of the Kent campaign group STEP – Stop The Eleven Plus –said: “STEP is pleased Mr Clarke has been so forthright in acknowledging the 11-plus system does a disservice to all the children who go through the system. What remains is for him to translate that understanding into action so that the thousands of children in Kent who are suffering the 'disservice' can be dealt a fair hand by this government.“

Support Kent Schools – which supports selection – said it was pleased there would be no challenge to Kent grammars.

Keith Williams, headteacher of the Rochester Math School, said: “The pleasing news is that there will not be a direct challenge to grammar schools. That confirms what Mr Clarke told us when he met us and I do not see any threat to us in what he has said.”

Fiona Miller, who chaired the conference fringe meeting, criticised the Government’s failure to end the 11-plus, saying it ran counter to its aim to give everyone an equal start in life. “Selection decreases [parental] choice and undermines the Government’s case for giving all children the best chance in life,” she said.

Mr Clarke is due to outline the Government’s official response to a highly critical report by MPs on selection and admissions in the next few weeks.