LIVERPOOL’S only grammar school is set to automatically offer sixth-form places to pupils at an under- performing comprehensive.

Liverpool council has asked the Blue Coat to guarantee A-level places to students making the grade at Parklands High as part of a bid to steer it up the league tables.

The Speke school will benefit from the input of the Royal Liver Group and Liverpool University, which will join Blue Coat officials on a new board of trustees dictating how the comprehensive is run.

In September, Parklands High will become a National Challenge Trust school and receive £1m of government funding aimed at boosting the exam results of schools so at least 30% of pupils achieve five good GCSEs including maths and English.

Only 15% of students managed that at Parklands last year, although that figure is expected to rise to at least 20% after exams this summer.

In January, it was announced the Blue Coat, the city’s best performer, will help run the management of Parklands, which will also change its name. The council is now “hopeful” of using the pioneering arrangement so Parklands students who meet Blue Coat’s minimum benchmark will be offered a place at its sought-after sixth form.

The Blue Coat’s sixth form only admits 50 students a year and places are mostly given only to those gaining enough GCSE points and “a demonstration of an aptitude for further academic study”.