Pedley was succeeded by Michael Brown (b.1927), who had previously worked as Headmaster of Prescot Grammar School. Born in Lancaster, Brown was a lay Methodist preacher who had a degree in History from Emmanuel College, Cambridge and a master's degree in Theology from St Peter's College, Oxford. Although staff found him to be courteous, modest, and a good listener – unlike his predecessors – they were largely unhappy that he was a supporter of the comprehensive system. Despite staff fears that his egalitarian ethos would promote mediocrity, admissions to Oxford and Cambridge actually rose under Brown's leadership. In April 1968, the Conservatives took control of Bexley council and scrapped plans to merge Chis and Sid and Hurstmere into a single comprehensive. However, still obliged by central government to abolish the eleven plus exam which had allocated primary school children to a particular form of secondary school under the tripartite system, a compromise was developed. Chis and Sid was to officially cease to be a grammar school, although it would still be able to choose which students it would accept based on their academic ability. At the same time it was decided that Chis and Sid was to become co-educational and thus admit girls as well as boys. The need for this latter change had become acute; the 1960s boundary changes had left the London Borough of Bexley with no grammar schools for girls and only one co-educational grammar (Bexley Grammar School), while the neighbouring London Borough of Bromley now had five grammars for girls.