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

FBaby

We live in East Sussex and there are no grammar schools under over an hour's travel. My daughther is considered a very high achiever, currently at level 5b/5a with the potential to reach level 6 at the end of the year. If we lived a bit closer to the Kent border, I certainly would have considered her going into a grammar school. The local high school is mediocre, not to say very bad, and they just don't have the capacity to provide the support she requires (understandbly, she gets bored and feeling unchallenged quite easily) and the other one only takes on catholics. Thankfully, we have just moved to another town (not because of schools, but it is a blessing in that regards too), and the local school seems very good so hopefully will recognise her abilities. Still, I do find it a pity that she is not given the chance to attend a grammar school because of where we live. My daughter is not talented at sports, nor at arts, languages or other areas of interest, she happens to excel in numeracy and literacy and it would have been nice if she'd been given the chance to make the best of what is to her advantage.

I don't think it is wrong that grammar schools should privilege those who are the most capable even if they live further apart. I understand that it seems ridiculous that a child just marginally brighter who lives 50 miles away would get a place rather than another living right next door, but there has to be a cut off, and test results are what they are.

melancholly

faithcecilia wrote: »

From the map, and from my owm experiences, I suspect it also includes independant grammer schools. My first senior school was an independant grammer, in that school they were so keen to get the best pupils that money wasn't mentioned until a place was offered - scolarships were based on financial need to the pupils who had gained entry rather than entry being given to those who could afford it plus a couple of scholarships. I don't think all independant schools work this way, so some areas may, effectively, be even lower than the map suggests.

the website i linked to specifically says that it only includes state grammar schools and although it doesn't have a pretty map, it makes a close match in terms of where there are many and where there are none. if there are even fewer than on that map, that's quite scary. i never realised how few there are!

silvercar

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.

So you want to discriminate in favour of the children that live in your county.

We have no grammar schools in my county, my son sat the entrance exam for the grammar school in the next county and got a place. His journey took about 10 minutes by car, about 20 minutes by bus. Yet you say he should be denied a place just because there is an (artificial) county boundary between our home and the school.

melancholly

Nicki wrote: »

I do have some sympathy for OP who is facing a situation where there are insufficient secondary places for her children in the next few years. This is the case for primary children in my area this year - 200 children have no reception place in the borough this year, and the LA knew this was coming and did nothing to plan for it. It's not at all u reasonable to be lobbying the LA now to make sure this problem gets addressed but it's just not necessary practical or politically possible to address it via the grammar school route OP proposes.

i wonder how much of this excess is due to the change in financial circumstances making parents move from the private sector to state schools? there will be more children needing state education now than, say 4 years ago.... 200 seems like a lot but i wonder if it would sound better or worse in terms of %age of students who didn't get a place or %age increase/decrease in demand compared to previous years. not that helps solve the problem though! just helps understand what exactly the problem is.

Nicki

With our borough it is specifically reception class places which are in short supply so unlikely to be due to parents pulling children out of private education. Added to which I live in one of the most economically deprived boroughs in London!

The thinking locally is that the problem has arisen due to a huge increase in building starter homes and shared ownership properties in the borough with no corresponding increase in infrastructure including schools. It is also an area where there is a lot of immigration, so the number of children of school starting age is well out of proportion to the birth rate in the area 4 years previously.

Still a massive failure to plan on the part of the local authority though and terribly stressful for those families who have been left high and dry.