Best way to prep for grammar school entry in Year 3

silvercar

fred246 said:

peachyprice said:

mark1234567890 said:

Thank you for all of the replies everyone.

The school I was referring to is the Manchester Grammar School, so Grammar in name but not by nature it would seem.

Here is a link to information on their Junior School: https://www.mgs.org/204/junior-school-1

And there it is: 

MGS is an independent, fee‐paying school. School fees are £12,930 for the academic year 2019‐20

https://0e58658be539ee7325a0-220f04f871df648cf4a4d93a111e3366.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com/manchester/uploads/document/ONLINEAPPLICATIONFORM-2020.pdf?ts=1592558169

So OP, not so much how will you prepare him, more how will you arrange your finances. 

Years 3 to Upper 6 would cost 11 x £12930 = £142K. It's serious money. It's normally quite a bit more with transport and uniform added and then keeping up with the Joneses seems pretty major with these children. I was amazed that people paying this sort of money look no further than 'league tables'. We would have been happy to pay for transport but the coach left at normal school closing time so any after school activity would have meant us driving as well as paying for the coach. Our primary school headteacher warned us that a boys grammar school is a nerd factory and may not be the best type of school.

Primary school children don't have many after school activities. Senior schools often have late coaches (that may combine routes), but by that age most children can use public transport.

maman

Can't agree with that. Primary schools do have after school activities. As for secondary schools, I have personal experience. In many areas schools serve the small town and the surrounding villages. Fine if you live in the town but public transport to the villages is almost non existent. Selective schooling aside, it's divisive. Children with parents who can drive them to school and back at any time are more advantaged. It's a corollary of the downside of parental 'choice'. Those that can afford/have transport can choose a 'good' school, others can't. Selection by another name. 

pollypenny

The school in which I taught served a big rural area. No school buses after time and very limited public transport. 

silvercar

maman said:

Can't agree with that. Primary schools do have after school activities. As for secondary schools, I have personal experience. In many areas schools serve the small town and the surrounding villages. Fine if you live in the town but public transport to the villages is almost non existent. Selective schooling aside, it's divisive. Children with parents who can drive them to school and back at any time are more advantaged. It's a corollary of the downside of parental 'choice'. Those that can afford/have transport can choose a 'good' school, others can't. Selection by another name. 

I was referring to Manchester Grammar school. In the centre of Manchester it is well served by public transport.
Anyone can choose the good school, we have now moved on to discussing whether they can access after school activities. I would guess rotas and other parents being helpful would be the answer. (Though in the case of some private schools, some pupils will have access to local cab accounts).
You seem to be suggesting that no one be allowed after school activities as not all will have a means of getting home.

Fireflyaway

onwards&upwards said:

Fireflyaway said:

onwards&upwards said:

I find it very weird to keep the sexes apart at school.  Its so artificial.  Isn't learning how to relate to others an important part of growing up?  

School is for learning, not impressing the opposite sex, worrying that boys / girls don't fancy you, fussing over your appearance, having to deal with rejection, unwanted attention etc. 

Sorry, but that's a huge and important part of being a teenager isn't it?  

I don't believe It's mandatory no. If it's possible to remove these aspects from school it provides a better environment in which to learn. I'm not against boys and girls mixing but if distractions / stresses are reduced then learning is easier. I do think times have changed. When I was at school (a mixed comprehensive) there was a bit of messing around by boys and a couple of girls who were more interested in boys than learning but nothing too much. Today even really young kids seem so concerned about appearance, how many 'likes' they have on social media, who is seeing who etc. The number of times I've seen 12 and 13 year old girls posting photos of them in bikinis or skimpy outfits and pouting at the camera. Girls fall out with long standing friends over a boy and lads talking about girls in such a sexualized and disrespectful way. I'm not saying this is the fault of schools. Clearly it's a parental / societal issue as much as anything else. I just think separating the sexes removes some distractions. 
The point about preparing for the financial side reminded me that we had underestimated the extra costs. Uniforms in private schools tend to be more pricey. It cost us around £400 to get the basics. At our child's school there are more trips as well. Probably 4 a year with at least one of those being residential. So far trips have cost anything from £25 for a day to a local historic site to £2300 for a science trip abroad. There have been optional extras to consider such as ski trips, expeditions and sports events so its worth deciding how to deal with those when they crop up. Fees usually also increase annually as well. 

peachyprice

Fireflyaway said:

onwards&upwards said:

Fireflyaway said:

onwards&upwards said:

I find it very weird to keep the sexes apart at school.  Its so artificial.  Isn't learning how to relate to others an important part of growing up?  

School is for learning, not impressing the opposite sex, worrying that boys / girls don't fancy you, fussing over your appearance, having to deal with rejection, unwanted attention etc. 

Sorry, but that's a huge and important part of being a teenager isn't it?  

I don't believe It's mandatory no. If it's possible to remove these aspects from school it provides a better environment in which to learn. I'm not against boys and girls mixing but if distractions / stresses are reduced then learning is easier. I do think times have changed. When I was at school (a mixed comprehensive) there was a bit of messing around by boys and a couple of girls who were more interested in boys than learning but nothing too much. Today even really young kids seem so concerned about appearance, how many 'likes' they have on social media, who is seeing who etc. The number of times I've seen 12 and 13 year old girls posting photos of them in bikinis or skimpy outfits and pouting at the camera. Girls fall out with long standing friends over a boy and lads talking about girls in such a sexualized and disrespectful way. I'm not saying this is the fault of schools. Clearly it's a parental / societal issue as much as anything else. I just think separating the sexes removes some distractions. 
The point about preparing for the financial side reminded me that we had underestimated the extra costs. Uniforms in private schools tend to be more pricey. It cost us around £400 to get the basics. At our child's school there are more trips as well. Probably 4 a year with at least one of those being residential. So far trips have cost anything from £25 for a day to a local historic site to £2300 for a science trip abroad. There have been optional extras to consider such as ski trips, expeditions and sports events so its worth deciding how to deal with those when they crop up. Fees usually also increase annually as well. 

It's naive to think that this behaviour is only confined to mixed sex schools, you cannot stop teenagers interacting with those they don't go to school with, the difference being they will do it more covertly. 

fred246

My sister went to a single sex school. She reckoned they either ended up terrified of boys or nymphomaniacs. Nothing in-between. The only males in the school were one teacher and the caretaker. All the girls had a crush on one or the other. They were both over 50. Just all seemed very strange to me.

pollypenny

fred246 said:

My sister went to a single sex school. She reckoned they either ended up terrified of boys or nymphomaniacs. Nothing in-between. The only males in the school were one teacher and the caretaker. All the girls had a crush on one or the other. They were both over 50. Just all seemed very strange to me.

I'd agree with this. I didn't know how to talk to males for years. 

Davesnave

fred246 said:

My sister went to a single sex school. She reckoned they either ended up terrified of boys or nymphomaniacs. Nothing in-between. The only males in the school were one teacher and the caretaker. All the girls had a crush on one or the other. They were both over 50. Just all seemed very strange to me.

Our boys' grammar was very rough until the girls arrived. They had a marked civilising effect. Had they been there from the start, some of the practises, aping those of public schools, would have died out sooner and saved many lads from demeaning treatment.

I never really got over being thrown down into a well-used urinal at the age of 11. It wasn't what I expected from the institution kids tried so hard to get into. I suppose I should have meekly allowed others to remove my trousers, push my head into in a lavatory and pull the flush, but I didn't 'get it' about tradition, so I resisted, hit a few people and met a harsher fate.

onwards&upwards

Fireflyaway said:

onwards&upwards said:

Fireflyaway said:

onwards&upwards said:

I find it very weird to keep the sexes apart at school.  Its so artificial.  Isn't learning how to relate to others an important part of growing up?  

School is for learning, not impressing the opposite sex, worrying that boys / girls don't fancy you, fussing over your appearance, having to deal with rejection, unwanted attention etc. 

Sorry, but that's a huge and important part of being a teenager isn't it?  

I don't believe It's mandatory no. 

I’m sorry but I couldn’t disagree more.  

The teenage years are a vital transition from childhood to adulthood, social and emotional development are every bit as important as the academic side.  Deprive them of the chance to navigate lots of different and sometimes social situations and relationships and you do them a huge disservice.