Pate's scores

pooodle · Post by **pooodle** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:44 pm

agree totally proud mum. I will avoid temptation of getting into a slanging match over state v private, but pomposity really isnt an attractive quality for you or your son cheltdad. I suppose you had a good sneer at checkout person on the way home?

pooodle · Post by **pooodle** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:45 pm

>>something the checkout person can't manage

how do you know, did you ask them?

gloucestermum · Post by **gloucestermum** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 10:01 pm

I used to work in a supermarket(and occasionally worked a checkout!),and I can add up quite nicely and got A level Maths.Not clever to tar everybody with the same brush....

proud mum x2 · Post by **proud mum x2** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:36 pm

I too consider myself reasonably intelligent, yet I have worked as a care assistant,including night duties,when necessity called, I would work anywhere if the DC needed something have always come first.
To expect a GS place, just because a private education has been paid for, is almost obscene, it almost scares me to think that my DD, in September, may be sharing a classroom with DC of parents who think in these terms. I really hope that a pompous, self righteous attitude never infiltrates my DC's gentle and understanding natures, if it did, then I would have failed in the way I would wish for them to have been brought up.

Sally-Anne · Post by **Sally-Anne** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:13 am

Hi All

Please could I ask you to "steady on" in this debate?

I would prefer not to have to "Mod" anyone.

Best wishes
Sally-Anne
(Moderator)

cam · Post by **cam** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 10:45 am

To take this into a more generalised domain. I don't think you can expect to 'pay' for a guaranteed GS place. My state educated child and state educated classmates have been offered independent places, some with significant scholarships, whilst some children from the independent's own feeder school have not even been offered a place.
Doesn't mean, of course, they won't get GS places but I guess there are some pretty anxious people out there.
Good luck, it's a tough decision.

proud mum x2 · Post by **proud mum x2** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 10:48 am

Hi Sally-Anne,
I get your point, and I'm sorry I got a bit carried away! emotions can run very high when we are talking about our DC's future schooling, I probably overreacted, some comments incensed me beyond belief,I promise I will behave in the future,(reminder to self, don't get on your high horse!)

I am normally a very calm and happy person,so this was out of character for me.

Best wishes P.M. x

Guest55 · Post by **Guest55** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 7:10 pm

Cheltdad's comments were rather 'over the top' and do not put the kind of schooling he is encouraging in a very good light ... he condemns himself.

capers123 · Post by **capers123** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 7:59 pm

There is one private school in Gloucestershire that proudly advertises "100% Grammar School Entrance Test Pass". Many of the children who go there are pretty average, but they start 11+ practice work in Y4 (or earlier) as part of the school curriculum. The school does have a few bright pupils who would pass anyway.

Likewise one local tutor boasts that all children they tutor get through, although they do have to do a lot of home work, attend the 1 week full time summer holiday course, and some attend twice a week. Said tutor is also very, very expensive (knows the market well).

What dismays me are the children who are just of average ability whose parents have paid to get them into grammar by whatever means possible. Once in the grammar classroom, they will probably end up struggling and holding the rest of the class back, whereas the children who they beat in the exam were brighter and more appropriate for grammar. Not fair on the rest of the children.

I remember one parent of such a child at appeal saying "If the child struggles with the work at the school, I've got a couple of friends who have said they'll help at home, and we'll get a private tutor to help as well" - WAKE UP - this is a GRAMMAR school - a child going there shouldn't need extra help at home, they should be bright enough to start with.

So it is possible to buy a place at grammar. Not all children who go to private schools or tutors really need it - it's just the done thing, through paranoid parents worrying that their child might be the one who drops off the bottom of the list if they don't get it tutored or send it to private school - yep, lots of parents at my childs (state) school are paying for tutoring and I'm not exempt from being paranoid. But there are a few children who have got inappropriate places by paying for either schooling or intensive tutoring!

Orson · Post by **Orson** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:08 am

capers123

How do you know that many of the children at this private school you refer to '...are pretty average' and that 'The school does have a few bright pupils who would pass anyway.'

Orson