A GRAMMAR school headteacher has said a campaign group's findings into pass rates for the new 11+ exam are "selectively drawn and unvalidated."

This week a report was released by a local campaign group called Local, Equal, Excellent who said the 11+ selection process has been made more unfair for less affluent families, following the introduction of the test last year.

The exam, created by the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring at Durham University, was introduced last year at Buckinghamshire's 13 grammar schools to tackle the issue of private coaching and to test a wider range of abilities.

Parents and pupils were told the exam questions would be more difficult to coach.

A local campaign group called Local, Equal, Excellent released results this week obtained from FOI requests, which showed less grammar school places went to state school pupils this year. Read the story here.

Philip Wayne, headmaster of Chesham Grammar School and chairman of the Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools said: "This report is based on selectively drawn and unvalidated data. An analysis of the grammar schools' intake will be available in the next few weeks.

"Grammar school heads firmly believe that the best preparation for the tests is to develop a child's ability to read with understanding and to solve problems using their numerical skills: this is what primary schools are doing with their children. The term 'tutor proof' has been used by the press as a catchy headline; it is certainly not in the lexicon of the Buckinghamshire Grammar schools.

"What we have said is that it is preferable to use a test which reduces any impact, perceived or real, of coaching."

Local, Equal, Excellent, which is led by Ms Hickman, Katy Simmons and Derek Berry, is now calling for the exam to be abandoned until, and unless, an alternative can be developed, which does not select on the basis of a family’s ability to afford tutoring or any other home attribute.

The data also showed non-Bucks children who sat the exam rose from 2,443 to 3,161 of which 1,013 and 1,242 passed respectively.

This pushed up the standardised pass mark, the campaign group said, and meant less grammar school places for Bucks pupils.

During the full Buckinghamshire County Council meeting today cabinet member for education and skills, Mike Appleyard, said: "People do need to understand that every single child who qualifies in the 11+ for a grammar school and lives in Bucks gets a place.

"That is not the case for people outside the county. Not one child in Bucks who qualified for grammar school suffers as a result of people out of the county."

The report also took data from five non grammar schools and three grammar schools in July for the 2014 entry, which they said shows the Pakistani community do not gain the same level of grammar school places as White British.

Although these figures may have changed slightly, 277 White British and 55 Pakistani pupils went to the three of the grammar schools.

With the five non grammar schools who provided data, 393 White British pupils gained places and 186 Pakistani pupils.

This shows 23 per cent of Pakistani pupils went to grammar schools compared to 41 per cent of White British pupils.

The figures also showed that 30.9 per cent of pupils have free school meals at Cressex Community School while at John Hampden it is 2.7 per cent.