Theresa May’s grammar schools revolution will lead to a surge in independent schools seeking to join the state sector, headteachers are predicting.

The government’s plan to allow an expansion of academic selection and lift the cap on faith-based admissions will make all the difference to independent schools facing an increasingly uncertain future, school leaders have told TES.

They say that the current rule that means a private school switching to the state sector cannot be selective has been a “hurdle” and a cause of “anxiety” that has deterred many from applying.

But the prospect of the ban on new selective state schools being lifted is understood to be persuading many indepedent schools to reconsider crossing the divide.

One headteacher in the North of England told TES: “I believe as many as 20 per cent of fee-paying schools in the region would seriously consider conversion.”

‘Actively considered’

Several institutions have already made the leap, with 27 independent schools becoming free schools or academies between 2007 and 2015, including prestigious names such as Liverpool College and Bradford Girls’ Grammar.

Chris King, vice-chair of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC) elite group of private schools, said that a move to the state sector would be “actively considered by a very large number of [currently fee-charging] city-centre grammar schools”.

Mr King, who is also headmaster of Leicester Grammar, said that he had already met with his school’s governors this week to discuss the issue, although they concluded that it was too early to make any decisions.

Simon Corns, headmaster of Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Blackburn, which converted to become a state-funded free school in 2014, said: “I would be surprised if there weren’t northern and indeed other independent schools who were interested because the thing that [previously] stuck in the craw for most people was this notion of selection.”

Hans van Mourik Broekman, headteacher of Liverpool College, an HMC school that went state-funded in 2013, said: “If you are an undersubscribed private school with good results and a staff that knows how to deliver…the prospect of being able to academically select would make conversion to the state sector more attractive - you would have another option.”

This is an edited article from the 16 September edition of TES. Subscribers can read the full article here. This week’s TES magazine is available in all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here

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