secondary school question please

milliejo

I think you need to look at all the schools in the area and if it is non - selective ask what arrangements they have for providing challenging work for the brightest children. It is also worth looking at private schools with good academic records as many have excellent bursary schemes.
Our 9 year old is very bright and the local schools are not that brilliant so we deal with that by living in a cheaper area and sending him to a very academic private school which works out cheaper than having to move to a vastly more expensive area house wise to get him into a better state school

milliebear00001

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

But are there many grammar schools in central London and why would you assume that any children of yours would necessarily want to live in this type of environment. You could go to a multicultural school and then end up living in an area with hardly a dark skinned face to be seen ! London isn't the whole world! You can't say how your children will choose to live their lives.

I imagine that you're a teacher in a comprehensive and I'm sure it's a good one, but if you've no experience of grammar school education then I don't think that you can understand how different it can be and how much more suitable for academic children.

I'm actually a primary teacher, but have several friends from training who now teach secondary in all types of schools so I have their anecdotal evidence.

I think you're misunderstanding my point about diversity. It shouldn't matter where you're planning to live when you grow up, it's just important for kids to grow up with an understanding of other ethnic groups/cultures etc. It better equips them for life in the real world, and makes them more rounded people, more accepting of, and understanding of, others. I don't live in London by the way, I live in an extremely white, middle class northern town, and as such, it's even more important to me that my kids have an understanding of what they're not exposed to everyday.

Oldernotwiser

milliebear00001 wrote: »

I live in an extremely white, middle class northern town, and as such, it's even more important to me that my kids have an understanding of what they're not exposed to everyday.

So, will you send your kids to another town with high levels of ethnic minorities, just so they can experience "real life"? If you and your family live in a predominantly white area then that is as much real life as living in Brixton or Bradford.

LillyJ

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

So, will you send your kids to another town with high levels of ethnic minorities, just so they can experience "real life"? If you and your family live in a predominantly white area then that is as much real life as living in Brixton or Bradford.

Actually, it's not.

My OH and I were brought up in a predominatly white area of the South East. I lived abroad as a kid so was more aware of other cultures, but OH, much as his parents were very open minded, just had little experience of these things.

Now we live in Birmingham and it has been a steep learning curve for both of us. Now a lot of our friends are of different backgrounds and religions, and we have to learn about them in order to understand what they do (for example the fasting in Ramadan etc). I think it's great, and love celebrating Eid, Diwali and Christmas - more chances for people to mix together and generally be happy.

I realise now that, due to no fault of our parents, we had a pretty sheltered upbringing, and as a result were very naive about other religions and cultures, despite me having lived abroad.

In Birmingham however there are certain schools with extremely good reputations where the children are 90% asian origin. I don't think that is healthy either.

In our home town, everyone was affluent and lived in a nice house with a garden. Therefore all my school friends were like this. (even at the comp). Their Dad's mainly worked in the City, and their Mum's were mainly full time mothers. Those children who had single parents were well off, being supported by the other parent.

I think it is healthy to see all sides of life, different shapes and sizes of family, different religions, different types of home, different attitudes - and realise that we can have things in common with all these different sorts of people.

milliebear00001

I think Lilly's post says everything I wanted to say, far more eloquently than I probably could have said it!

It's simply not about people spending all of their lives in one place anymore - this doesn't happen much now, and is even less likely to in future - and anyway, surely we don't go to the trouble of coaching our 11 year olds into Grammars etc just so our kids can spend their whole lives in one hick town like mine?!

People need to learn to live alongside people who may appear (at first contact) very different to themselves. That's the way to the very important realisation that we're actually not very different at all. It's just as important to teach those things in schools, as (for example) what a prime number is.

Strapped

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

It was a bit of a sweeping statement, but I did say "often". I think that the majority of teachers would rather teach intelligent, well motivated children and not to have to spend their time in "crowd control" so grammars can normally pick and choose who they take on. Extra curricular activities can also be a joy in this situation where you're not stressed by violence and behavioural problems.

I also disagree with your comments about grammar schools teaching to the test; the education you receive is likely to be far more rounded and less narrow than many comps that are trying to hustle as many kids through 5 A-Cs as possible.

If you are stressed by "behavioural problems" as a teacher, perhaps you need extra training?

Oldernotwiser

Strapped wrote: »

If you are stressed by "behavioural problems" as a teacher, perhaps you need extra training?

As a college lecturer that was rarely a problem for me.

If you think that all classroom behavioural problems can be solved by staff training you're either not a teacher or on some very good drugs!

Strapped

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

As a college lecturer that was rarely a problem for me.

If you think that all classroom behavioural problems can be solved by staff training you're either not a teacher or on some very good drugs!

I certainly don't think that they are solved by hiding in a cosy grammar school which excludes anyone "out of the norm" or "too difficult" either :rolleyes:

jay11_2

Strapped wrote: »

I certainly don't think that they are solved by hiding in a cosy grammar school which excludes anyone "out of the norm" or "too difficult" either :rolleyes:

It's so hard though, isn't it! For all our beliefs in social equality, when it came down to it, we (DH and I) chose to make major lifestyle changes and sacrifices, rather than sending our children to our 'failing' local school, with its' major bullying, social, and behavioural issues. We just 'couldn't' do it!

Yet so many children attend similar schools it's just wrong. I believe every child deserves excellent schooling, and that no child is more precious or special than any other. But use my children as a social experiment...no thanks. Our education system needs a major overhaul, starting, in my opinion, with a major reduction in class sizes, to make them more manageable and allow children, especially those in difficulty, to be 'seen', appreciated, and helped.

vixarooni

Obviously i dont know your son's true ability but when i was in primary school most of my school friends went to grammar and i went to comprehensive because i didnt sit the test. Out of all of those friends half have gone on to university and half have gone onto do jobs like working in boots and receptionist jobs. From what i've seen going to a grammar or to a comprehensive doesnt make much difference to some people.

I also agree with the above comments regarding behavioural problems! In comprehensive school i mixed with people on very low incomes, to some reasonalbly high. I saw everything in between. The people who were bright were at the top of the class and grew in confidence.

One thing i find when youre a teenager is that you cant be pushed to do anything. Boys i think are particularly hard sometimes because obviously they mature at a different rate to girls (although it wasnt untill i was about 19 that i realised how important my education was and bucked my ideas up) so thats also another factor when making your decision, its all too easy to rebel!

Also its not what you know but who you know! Im finding that out now that my degree is nearly finishing.