Parent Power - The Sunday Times - The Tale of Two Halves

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jxp
Posts: 45
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2018 1:42 pm

Re: Parent Power - The Sunday Times - The Tale of Two Halves

Post by jxp »

An easier option would be to remove selective schools entirely and introduce an American system whereby you go to your local school only.
Yes, that would be better. End of all stress & drama.
hermanmunster
Posts: 12817
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Re: Parent Power - The Sunday Times - The Tale of Two Halves

Post by hermanmunster »

jxp wrote:
An easier option would be to remove selective schools entirely and introduce an American system whereby you go to your local school only.
Yes, that would be better. End of all stress & drama.
There would still be some that would be considered to be better than others - house prices would rocket
sandy09
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue May 23, 2017 1:54 pm

Re: Parent Power - The Sunday Times - The Tale of Two Halves

Post by sandy09 »

There are no perfect systems and any changes will have advantages and disadvantages. I don't think there is any education system in the world which is viewed as entirely satisfactory. All the top nations in PISA table their own education issues.

With the new political era led by the Conservatives, will there be any changes? Interesting to see the Sutton Trust report that in the new Parliament state-selective-educated MPs fell in proportion whilst comprehensive educated MPs rose.

On a personal level having just gone through the 11+ with our first child I feel the grammar system is highly flawed in two main aspects (i) too early testing in the beginning of Y6 and (ii) uneven distribution of grammar school choices across the country.

Whilst the second aspect take political courage to change, the first one will take the cultural courage to change. Everything about education in this country requires early action. You might not agree but where else in the world do parents have to apply for primary school for children aged 3? And secondary for children aged 9? And university aged 17? Some might say primary school application is nothing, reception children come and play most day, and secondary school can be applied at any time as there is no limit on class size. The reality is, as you all know, the burden rests on parents to research and apply for school way too early to avoid being "late". Some selective schools requires proof of address a couple of years before entry which adds on to the parental guilt if we can't move to the area in time.

The grammar school selection system is based on KS2 curriculum which will not be taught in full until summer term, yet the test is in the beginning of the school year. My suggestion is to move the testing time towards later in the year. Having selective status, grammar schools should have a later application time frame than non-selective schools. Selection can be based on KS2 results and grammar schools can add other selection criteria that they see fit, such as distance to school, siblings, pupil premium, music grades etc.

I can see that this won't work because the cultural shift will be too much. Looking at how universities require application before A level grades (UK is the only place in the world where universities make offers based on predicted grades) and resist to offer after grades.

So as anything else in this country, we moan, we blame the system, then we keep calm and move on.
Skip
Posts: 92
Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2015 10:25 pm

Re: Parent Power - The Sunday Times - The Tale of Two Halves

Post by Skip »

Not sure how it works in other regions but in Glos someone from the Grammar visits the kids who will be joining their school for Y7. I wonder if they could visit school earlier, look at Yr 6 work for the whole class and select candidates that way rather than an exam? I would hope if they picked a couple of kids from most primary schools it would widen access more. Or even just visit schools in underprivileged areas and invite a few to join based on their actual work. Pipe dream?
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