Grammar School Catchments - Why are they allowed to set their own?

Loanranger

If your child scores highly enough in the exam then she will get a place.

Imp

I don't know which area you live in, but I live in a grammar school area. The grammar schools are in the towns. In the rural half of the county, there are two grammar schools. Would you argue that the children living in the rural part of the county should not have the same opportunity to go to a grammar school as those who live in the towns, just because they will have to travel further?

If you want my sympathy, you should be campaigning for more places at all the schools, so that all children have the opportunity of the education most suited to them.

leckl

My own personal opinion having had one daughter at the local grammar and one at the local secondary (by choice) is that most of the children locally are coached by tutors to pass the entrance exam, usually from about the age of 8. The problem then starts when they have to keep up with the naturally gifted children who are in their class and have problems in doing so, this is when the coached children are at a disadvantage and therefore may not be in the best place for their education as a grammar school tends to be at a much faster pace of learning.

My daughter at the secondary school is just coming upto 16 and taking her 11 GCSEs in May. She already has a GCSE A* in science and an A in RE from last year, she is predicted all As and A*s. My other daughter took 9 GCSEs at the grammar school and achieved As and Bs. Neither were coached for the entrance exam or 11+ as it used to be.

I am lucky as we have an excellent secondary school and about 8 grammar schools within 5 miles of our house so i chose to send her to the local secondary as she was not confident enough to cope with the grammar style of teaching.

It is a different matter is your local secondary school is not up to scratch.

Fang_3

Counting_Pennies wrote: »

I thank everyone for their responses and will definitely start to lobby.

For those who have jumped on the bandwagon of criticising my intentions.

I have clearly stated there are not enough school places to take the children coming up to Year 6. The projections are that in 4 years time there are not enough places, and this gives us enough time to work on the issues.

There is no money to magically build a new school, or indeed extra classes. The key thing surely is to make sure the school places in the area are for the local children. No I am not saying to make the catchment one town, I am saying make it for one whole county which it sits in the middle of.

The argument that it should be for the brightest and not the most local, there are a whole string of children who have exceeded the 11+ even exceeded level 5 and still cannot get in because people from 80 miles away are getting in (yes truly). Others are put on trains from London and commute in each day. To me this is not acceptable for the children forced to commute, and also not for the very clever children in our area.

The brightest children, from anywhere will get in. Your children cannot compete, so instead of trying to remove opportunity for brighter children - why not get your own children extra help so they might be able to compete one day?

You sound very, very bitter frankly.

Lunar_Eclipse

Counting_Pennies wrote: »

I just wondered if anyone knew the official reason why Grammar Schools are allowed to set their own catchment area.

Grammar schools allocate places based solely on academic ability/potential and not based on siblings, home address or religious based criteria. They are basically specialist schools in the same way that Catholic or Dyslexic schools are.

Whilst I fully appreciate that there may be an issue with secondary school places (we have one too), I don't think Grammar Schools should have a catchment area at all, because if they do, it's a postcode lottery applied to children's education. Plus it disadvantages all children, apart from those who are borderline perhaps, in my opinion.

We personally are in the opposite situation. I have two bright (gifted) children and there are no grammar options in our county. I feel forced to consider private, despite an income which can neither pay the fees or qualify for a bursary; eek. So at least you have Grammar School options. I might start lobbying about that!

By all means talk to the LEA about supply and demand issues you see affecting your area and try for the Grammar Schools if you feel they're a good match for your child/ren. And personally, I would not ever recommend coaching them to get in.

movilogo

Looking into it we found the local two Grammar Schools are allowed to take their 100 pupils each year from anywhere in the country, there is no catchment, basically those who pass their test get in.

I think that is quite a good thing. This will help the grammar school to admit top students and thus keep their standard high (compared to other schools).

No one should be automatically admitted to grammar schools just because they live nearby. This makes no sense as many people move near to school and once their kids got admitted they move back to their original places.

Which grammar schools are they by the way?

gollygosh

Grammar school selection is based on academic ability. You cast your net as wide as is needed to fill the places you have with the children who will be best suited to the rigors of this type of school. Yes my ds does go to one and he has a 50min journey to get there (we live in the country). But it really is the best place for him, my dd wouldn't go near the place if you payed her! it's the local secondary for her and it will be the best place for her.

DougFlo

If your children are academically gifted they will get in. All seems very simple to me.

Counting_Pennies_2

This is the last post I will make on the subject.

CLEARLY you are missing the fact that I am not saying I want my child to go to the Grammar. I want the gifted children in our county to go to the county Grammar school.

I am not looking for self interests, I am interested in the children managing to get an education.

The gifted children of our county cannot go to the school because others who score another point higher than them are getting in from out of the county and commuting up to two hours each day.

There should be a grammar catchment in my opinion, so each child can have the right to apply to get in to the grammar in their catchment. Not apply 80 miles away. If all the grammars were plotted on the map and the boundaries identified, then the children living in that catchment could have first dibs at it.

To those who have responded with the steps I can take, I thank you.

DougFlo

You are advocating a position that will lower standards. How can that be a justifiable viewpoint.