Stress of secondary school choices

seven-day-weekend

Person_one wrote: »

A school in special measures is a good bet actually, within a couple of years it'll probably be doing brilliantly.

Or have closed, like the one near me did.

silvercar

maman wrote: »

Thanks for the clarification. Where I live children can sit the entrance exam even if they live out of catchment and, if they pass, they get in. I assume those who live in the catchment and don't pass have to go to the comprehensive down the road (or go private if parents can afford it;)). Maybe there are more places on offer or maybe they just want the very brightest pupils to boost their results.

We live near to 4 different LEAs. One has 2 grammar schools (1 girls, 1 boys), it has no catchment area; anyone can apply and entry is strictly by exam score. Some pupils do travel long journeys to get to school. The results are excellent, as you would expect given the intake, they also score very highly in the "value added" * tables.

They also prides themselves on going beyond being an exam factory and make efforts to produce rounded adults.


* "value added" is a measure used to assess how the results compare with what would have been expected from the intake.

Lunar_Eclipse

Person_one wrote: »

They have to pass the entrance exam and live in the catchment area though. Why the confusion?

Grammar schools don't usually have a catchment area; admission is based purely on exam ranking.

(We looked at a couple of grammar schools, who both told us about 10% of places are allocated to people currently living over 100 miles from the school.)

Lunar_Eclipse

aliasojo wrote: »

If I could afford to send daughter to a private school, she'd be there now.

Depending on your income level and the individual school, you might not have to afford it though. Means tested bursaries are there to fund pupils that fit the school, but whose parents can't afford the fees. Something like 1 in 3 pupils at private schools receive help with fees (from a variety of sources.)

Christ's Hospital in West Sussex is well known for its financial aid. 88% of pupils receive help from the school with fees; if my memory is correct, they have a unique sliding scale system based on what parents can afford (which of course might not match your view!) Also, I've just read that Eton started as a school for the poor: how times change!

claire16c

silvercar wrote: »

But on an individual level there will be some students who only managed to get to university because of the private/ grammar school education they had.

I think though, that if you go to a private school and get the same A level grades as someone else who went to a state school, on average the state school pupil will get the better grade at uni.

As for grammar schools and catchment area I don't know what it's like everywhere else but here either the catchment area is huge or there isn't one, because pupils come from miles away to go to them, there isn't an area that could be increased house price wise, and that area therefore includes a few deprived areas. If there even is an 'area' it might just be limited by how far parents are prepared to send their kids I'm not sure.

Anyway my parents moved house so I could go to a good school & it was a lot cheaper than a private school. I don't see what's wrong with it if you have the means to do it & you want the best for your child. As a parent you can't be responsible for everyone else's kid too.

bylromarha

Person_one wrote: »

Not to diminish the young man's accomplishment, but does a 2:1 from Nottingham really justify all that money that could have been spent on other things? Loads of people get a 2:1 without an expensive private education!

They felt that the private schools small classes and less rough environment meant he had a chance to be himself, to grow in confidence and believe he could even aspire to go to uni.

The whole child school focus the private school had was what he needed to get to uni, and the parents believe he never would have made it to uni at the state schools as they had far less of an environment for his personality and confidence to grow.

They firmly believe it was worth every penny invested. But we'll never know if the state option would have produced the same young man, eh?

tea_lover

The grammar school I went to (and which my sister now teaches at) has an entrance exam and a catchment area. It's a larger area than for the local comps but there's still a cut-off.

Alpha58

Lots of posts here which seem based on opinion rather than experience. A few things to bear in mind about the private sector:

Yes, private schools are selective, if only by the simple criterion that the parent(s) must be able to afford the fees, but academically selective? Some more than others, but there was a good point earlier about some small classes being as a result of the school struggling to find pupils.

Parents with the means to send children to private school does not automatically equate to intelligent children.

Although there is certainly a degree of "playground snobbery" to be expected, be prepared for the fact that is frequently the children who are worse than their parents. If you are thin-skinned (or have children who are) be aware that their classmates with more privileged backgrounds can be vicious about parents' income and house size.

That said, there is more pressure on private schools to perform; they are, after all, profit-generating businesses, and if they do not perform they will not attract pupils (i.e. revenue).

The bottom line is this: if you believe that your child(ren) would do better in the private sector, you have the means to support it and there are good private schools near you, go and see them and make an objective decision based on what is best for them. Ignore the subjective beliefs, opinions and preconceptions, especially when they are articulated by those who have no experience of both sectors. You only get one shot at it so it has to be the best decision for you and for them, whether that be comprehensive, grammar or private.

Good luck!

seven-day-weekend

Alpha58 wrote: »

Lots of posts here which seem based on opinion rather than experience. A few things to bear in mind about the private sector:

Yes, private schools are selective, if only by the simple criterion that the parent(s) must be able to afford the fees, but academically selective? Some more than others, but there was a good point earlier about some small classes being as a result of the school struggling to find pupils.

Parents with the means to send children to private school does not automatically equate to intelligent children.

Although there is certainly a degree of "playground snobbery" to be expected, be prepared for the fact that is frequently the children who are worse than their parents. If you are thin-skinned (or have children who are) be aware that their classmates with more privileged backgrounds can be vicious about parents' income and house size.

That said, there is more pressure on private schools to perform; they are, after all, profit-generating businesses, and if they do not perform they will not attract pupils (i.e. revenue).

The bottom line is this: if you believe that your child(ren) would do better in the private sector, you have the means to support it and there are good private schools near you, go and see them and make an objective decision based on what is best for them. Ignore the subjective beliefs, opinions and preconceptions, especially when they are articulated by those who have no experience of both sectors. You only get one shot at it so it has to be the best decision for you and for them, whether that be comprehensive, grammar or private.

Good luck!

Absolutely agree, politics should not come into it. For our son the best school was the church school round the corner. (And we got stick for that too ).

Frith

It has been dead easy for me to choose a high school for my sons!

Older son - 2 comprehensives within 10 miles. One not so good and in a different county. The other, really pretty good, same county and a sixth form attached. He's in year 8 now.

Younger son - 1 comprehensive with a mainstream autism base attached. We are going to look round tonight. :-) It's a good school too and about 14 miles away (the specialist unit he used to go to was 30 miles away!)

So almost no choices at all for me to make. I don't know how I'd manage if I lived in a town and had several schools to chose from.