Am I missing something?

[Rob Clark]

So what I'm looking for really is a school that has high expectations, stretches the able ones, gives the children access to lots of competitive sport (not just a narrow/limited/not too competitive choice)

Interesting discussion. Can I just jump on a hobbyhorse of mine for a minute – one of the reasons GSs tend to be good at sport is because the type of DCs they attract tend (a generalisation I know) to already be playing one or more sports to a high level outside school so while the facilities may well be better, in my experience the teaching is not, and nor are the opportunities necessarily.

Also to a quite significant extent, it’s a numbers game. Anyone involved in sport will tell you the key to improving the standard at the top of the pyramid is to massively increase the numbers involved at the bottom of it. One of the main reasons France has so many more (and better) professional tennis players than England is because about eight times as many people play the sport in France. So a single-sex GS with a yearly intake of 180 is almost certain to do better than a mixed-sex comp with a yearly intake of 70 of each gender. Even for those who struggle with 8x7, the maths is quite simple and proves very little.

[Milla]

it's the peer group messes it up, not just the teachers, non? (cringing, so much to hate, both halves of a short sentence, for Amber to hate )

[Amber]

it's the peer group messes it up, not just the teachers, non? (cringing, so much to hate, both halves of a short sentence, for Amber to hate )

If I could only understand it, Milla, then maybe I would indeed hate it.

[Milla]

fairly clear to me.

[muminTewkes]

Milla....I don't get it either ?!
Admittedly I'm VERY sleep deprived and also just catching up reading this but...?

[Freya]

I got it!

[turtleglos]

At the risk of upsetting people I agree with Milla.

[Amber]

OK, well I didn't get it and it was aimed at me. It seems I have to be on the lookout for side swipes the whole time but didn't realise it had turned into a spectator sport. Spotted the one in EE on another thread I had only made one small remark on. OK for some people to be sensitive but not others, it appears. I hadn't realised we were looking for people to take sides, turtleglos, but go ahead. I'm out of here. Enjoy!

[turtleglos]

OK, well I didn't get it and it was aimed at me. It seems I have to be on the lookout for side swipes the whole time but didn't realise it had turned into a spectator sport. Spotted the one in EE on another thread I had only made one small remark on. OK for some people to be sensitive but not others, it appears. I hadn't realised we were looking for people to take sides, turtleglos, but go ahead. I'm out of here. Enjoy!
OK, well I didn't get it and it was aimed at me. It seems I have to be on the lookout for side swipes the whole time but didn't realise it had turned into a spectator sport. Spotted the one in EE on another thread I had only made one small remark on. OK for some people to be sensitive but not others, it appears. I hadn't realised we were looking for people to take sides, turtleglos, but go ahead. I'm out of here. Enjoy!

I cant speak for Milla, but my comment was certainly not aimed at you Amber. In fact I quite often think that we agree. Just have different ways of putting our arguments.

[muminTewkes]

...and Im still not getting ANY of it......
but then I'll admit I'm not good at working out the polotics and history of stuff.A spade's a spade and all that.