This is just incorrect information.

> By the end of the 1980s, all of the grammar schools in Wales and most of those in England had closed or converted to comprehensive schools. Selection also disappeared from state-funded schools in Scotland in the same period.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar_school

There are private schools that call themselves grammar schools (paid schools, not state funded) and some grammar schools still exist in Northern Ireland.

But the system that defined what a grammar school is - has long since been abolished, and all free-access grammar schools were completely gone from my area before I was even born.

> all free-access grammar schools were completely gone from my area before I was even born.

That's because you lived in an area that didn't have the 11+ exam. I did, and I went to a state-funded grammar school in the 1990s. It's still there, famously.

My neighbours kid took the 11+ two years ago to go to a state funded selective school in Warwickshire. 4 of my friends went to a grammar school (slate funded) in the 2000s and that school still exists in the same form it did back then.

Most grammar schools are gone but there are far from none.

Some counties in England still have state grammar schools and still follow the 11+ process. The 163 that the poster above you is referring to are state, selective, schools, rather than private grammar schools. There's a list linked in the Wikipedia page you linked: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_grammar_schools_in_Eng...

Key word being "most". I attended a state funded grammar school in the 2000s.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_grammar_schools_in_Eng...

They are mostly gone from the UK, but Kent has a fully functioning, state-funded grammar school system.

As does Northern Ireland.

I have a friend who teaches at a state funded grammar, and that wikipedia article includes a whole section on Current British grammar schools, which are selective and state funded o_O

I went to a state grammar school, graduating in 2012. They still exist. There's a map of them here: https://www.theexamcoach.tv/grammar-and-independent-schools/...

There are plenty free non-fee-paying Grammar schools all around London. There are some private fee paying schools that were historical Grammar schools and still have it in their name.

The only issue is that Grammar schools are super selective these days, based on my own experience there are at least 10 applicants for every single place, as well as multiple rounds of tests to filter out children. In the end it’s a lottery of sort too as local councils decide who is awarded a place.

this, for example, is a state grammar school

https://www.queenelizabeths.derbyshire.sch.uk

The vast bulk of councils in the UK abolished the 11+ system. It does still exist in some places. Unfortunately, the system was ditched by the Labour government of 1976. Our current Labour lot are trying to do the same thing to our private schooling system.

Just to confuse things, some former grammar schools turned into private schools but kept 'grammar' in their name.

But to confirm, there are still areas that have state grammar schools and have the 11 plus: Buckinghamshire, Essex and Kent spring to mind as the obvious ones in the South East.

Birmingham also had a grammar school system that is state funded, although most are supported by a charitable foundation as well.

This all became more complex again with the introduction of academies (twice, with different goals and subtly different setups) and free schools (although are those really a thing any more?) and I'm sure New New Labour will at some point add another category if school in the interests of simplicity...