to look at his adopted daughter. Short of handcuffing Anna to the nearest solid object, there had been no way he was going to keep her from going on this mission. But that didn't mean Ben had to like it. Anna was calm and her pale eyes reflected no inner emotion. Like most Rebel women, she had cut her blond hair very short—shorter than some men's—but only a fool would ever mistake her for a male.

She looked up, meeting Ben's eyes, and winked at him.

Ben had to smile. The young lady was gutsy, no doubt about that. And breathtakingly beautiful. But she was far too intense for most young men her age; she loved to read and study and debate issues of importance . . . all ofyoung people" since July 2015.

'Inconsistencies and incoherence'

The report was submitted to Education Minister Peter Weir in November 2016 and has just been published.

While it said that "our education system has many strengths", it also noted "high-level policy inconsistencies and incoherence" in a number of areas.

"There is still a long way to go in terms of ensuring that the great majority of our young people leave school with a high level of achievement," said the report.

This is despite more than two-thirds of young people leaving school with five or more GCSEs at grades A*-C, including English and Maths.

The report did not explicitly call for academic selection to be abandoned, but said that it had "negative influences".

It said selection leads to some children becoming uninterested in learning during Year 6