Flagship standards

Guest55 · Post by **Guest55** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 8:19 pm

It should also be noted that Private school pupils pay for exam entries so some 'culling' goes on.

T.i.p.s.y · Post by **T.i.p.s.y** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:53 pm

Guest55 wrote:It should also be noted that Private school pupils pay for exam entries so some 'culling' goes on.

This is rare and frankly if it were to happen then parents would be up in arms and would not pay fees for a school that does this.

stevew61 · Post by **stevew61** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:06 pm

Please Sir! May I join in the debate and selectively quote to suit my own ends.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3557 ... ables.html

The Daily Telegraph invented league tables. As the story has it, John Clare, the paper's education editor at the time, had been in the company of two independent school heads who had bragged non-stop about the academic excellence of their respective schools.

Or maybe you good folk could read the article and make a balanced judgment.

steve

huntlie · Post by **huntlie** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:09 pm

Speaking of 'culling,' there is one form of that which is most definitely practised by a certain GS (and probably many others, but I only have evidence from the one) - and that is, if you are a girl who has not managed to get all A* and A grades at GCSE, you are told that you will be happier elsewhere. Sometimes that comes in the form of preparation for it before GCSEs and then confirmation after results, but in one case I know it came in a letter, in August, as a total shock. She had to go to a distant comp, there being no room for her anywhere nearer by that stage.

Guest55 · Post by **Guest55** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:14 pm

Tipsy - have you checked? Many do make parents pay GCSE and A level entry fees

T.i.p.s.y · Post by **T.i.p.s.y** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:15 pm

I am disgusted at any independent school that would select a child at 11 or 13 and then chuck them out after GCSE for getting a B or less. These schools often boast of teaching the "whole child" and pastoral care under-pinning the ethos of the school. I know of a couple of schools who do this and even if they are "riding high" I wouldn't send my DS there out of principle.

T.i.p.s.y · Post by **T.i.p.s.y** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:17 pm

Guest55 wrote:Tipsy - have you checked? Many do make parents pay GCSE and A level entry fees

Unfortunately I know about paying for GCSE's and it makes me sick that the government won't fund these qualifications for every child but I meant the "culling" of certain GCSE's.

Guest55 · Post by **Guest55** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:20 pm

Yes but if parents pay the school can discount the results they don't like as the entries are 'private' entries - a really sneaky way of improving results.

Bewildered · Post by **Bewildered** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:22 pm

Excellent article Steve.

Well said, Martin Stephen, High Master of St Paul's!

Sadly, that is exactly how things are, in our current education system.
I hope someone prominent in the government reads it, and takes heed!

FirstTimeBuyer · Post by **FirstTimeBuyer** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:22 pm

Guest55
Are you prepared to name names?