Evening All,
We live in Bedgrove, Aylesbury and are literally the first row of houses out of catchment for The John Colet. The secondary schools in Aylesbury are just so awful and The Grange has just had a new ofsted visit and it is still requiring improvement. When is Bucks CC going to take a serious look at the secondary schools in Aylesbury town? It's so depressing. I believe from one of the reports linked on here only 150 children put The Grange as their first choice. It can hold 240 each year. The John Colet on the other hand had 224 children put it as their first choice but only has space for 180.
Also, i can see why there are more selection reviews this year - no one wants their child to go to one of the secondary schools and so are hoping that a score of 116 will get them through the selection review.
We visited The Grange on one of the open evenings and were so disappointed. All the teachers kept on saying was 'we teach to the middle' and sure enough all the way through the ofsted report it says able children are not supported enough and subsequently get nearly a whole grade worse/lower than similar children at other schools at the end of the GCSEs.
We believe our son is capable at a grammar school but I'm very aware of the pressure of performing on one particular day!
It really is a sad state of affairs and to be quite honest i wish we could move to an area where there was no 11+
Sorry for my ramblings
Louise
P.S Why hasn't The Aylesbury Grammar school had an ofsted visit for 9 years? thanks