Secondary modern school

A secondary modern school (Welsh: ysgol uwchradd fodern) was a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Secondary modern schools accommodated the majority (70–75%) of pupils between 11 and 15. Those who achieved the highest scores in the 11-plus were allowed to go to a selective grammar school which offered education beyond 15. From 1965 onwards (following Circular 10/65), secondary moderns were replaced in most of the UK by the comprehensive school system.

Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usually referred to as secondary schools, and in areas of England, such as Buckinghamshire (where they are referred to as upper/all-ability schools), Lincolnshire (still called secondary modern) and Wirral (called all-ability schools), and Kent where they are referred to as non-selective.

The tripartite system of streaming children of presumed different intellectual ability into different secondary schools has its origin in the interwar period influenced by the recommendations of the Hadow report of 1926. Three levels of secondary school emerged in England and Wales: academic grammar schools (some with the new name county school) for the top tier of pupils deemed likely to study at university or enter a profession; central schools which provided artisan and trade training, as well as domestic skills for girls; and some other secondary schools which provided a basic secondary education. Prior to 1944 however the majority (80%) attended only elementary school prior to leaving at 14.

As recommended by the Spens Report of 1938 and Norwood Report of 1943, educational practice in the 1940s developed this system so that children were tested and streamed into the renamed grammar, technical and secondary modern schools at the age of eleven. In practice, few technical schools were created, and most technical and central schools, such as Frank Montgomery School in Kent, became secondary modern schools. As a result, the tripartite system was in effect a bipartite system in which children who passed the eleven-plus examination were sent to grammar schools and those who failed the test went to secondary modern schools.

It was envisaged that the secondary modern would 'provide a series of courses for children of widely differing ability, aptitude and social background. It has to cater for the needs of intelligent boys and girls, for those with a marked practical bent, as well as for the special problem of the backward children'. At a secondary modern school there was a core curriculum of 'English (or English and Welsh), mathematics, history, geography and science. In addition pupils might receive training in a wide range of practical skills. 'Rural science, auto-engineering, pre-apprenticeship, practical crafts, and electrical science' were mentioned in a 1956 parliamentary debate.

There was a focus on training in basic subjects, such as arithmetic, mechanical skills such as woodworking and domestic skills, such as cookery. In an age before the advent of the National Curriculum, the specific subjects taught were chosen by the individual schools, but the curriculum at the Frank Montgomery School in Kent (at its opening in 1935 as a central school) was stated as including "practical education, such as cookery, laundry, gardening, woodwork, metalwork and practical geography".

The first secondary moderns were created by converting about 1,200 elementary schools, as well as central schools, which previously had offered a continuation of primary education to the age of 14, into separate institutions. Many more were built between the end of World War II and 1965, in an effort to provide universal secondary education. In 1956 there were 3,500 such schools.

Prior to the provision of the Education Act 1944 the school leaving age was 14. The secondary modern schools therefore had to accommodate, after implementation in 1947, a new cohort of 14-15 year old pupils. It is suggested that this was a demotivated rump of 14–15-year-olds who did not want to be there. The subsequent raising of statutory school leaving age to 16 was in 1972. This 1972 change, as with the 1947 change, impacted the secondary moderns more than other secondary schools as more pupils previously left at the earliest legal age.