11 Plus Exams Forum

BBC Radio 4 will be broadcasting two programmes on grammar schools and the 11+ on December 11th and 18th.

From the listings page:

20:00
A Social Selection
11 December 2008

Reporter Andrew Bomford examines the grammar school selection system in parts of England.

Andrew follows a group of ten-year-olds as they prepare to sit their 11-plus exams.

If it is the same programme, I heard that the Beeb were trawling for participants for this outside one of our local schools on the evening of the 11+ parents information evening.

I wonder if anyone I know fell for it ...

Reminds me of a series Evan Davies (Dragons Den, Radio 4's Today) did a couple of years ago. It was on modern education, and he went back to his Comprehensive School and said how much better it was after it had changed from a Grammar.

I personally wouldn't have said 'better'. Different, maybe. But us ex-grammar pupils still had the same teachers, same classrooms, same lesson plans. The only difference was it changed from a 50/50 gender profile to 25/75 boys to girls (no doubt a disappointment for Evan ). But then he did make head boy.

I've got a lovely picture of him involved in a world record Daisy Chain. He's in the middle of it....

As this is the BBC, expect the usual leftish, 'anti' bias.

Not that I'm a cynic.........

Of course not, Grumpy - but you are right, and of course it's the usual hypocrisy too, since 95% of BBC people went to either private or grammar school! As for schols like Evan's, they were3 grammar schools in all but name!

My school changed to comprehensive the year below me. We lost many of our best teachers and our headmistress although desperate to see us out ended up having to take early retirement through 'ill health'.

Our year had the worse exam results in the schools records both O'levels and A'levels and the drop in girls taking sciences and maths A'levels in the year below us was hugely significant.

My friend of equal intelligence to myself and same lack of motivation moved to a comprehensive in the second year. I came out with far more qualifications than she.

I had to drop my nephew off at the school many years later and being pregnant needed a wee stop. I wont describe just how awful an experience entering the loos was and this was the better of the two comprehensives serving the community! I am and always will be adamantly for Grammar schools. Just because the alternative was not up to scratch there was no need to throw the baby out with the bath water. We had a system that served many bright, poor children very well and we took it away from them, many of those children are the ones who are now left in failing comps with no hope.

My son brought home an online survey for me to fill in yesterday from the BBC for this. I have to say I was very disappointed as all it was interested in was to try and demonstrate that you were a middle class parent who had coached a lot or moved to the appropriate area to access grammar school. I think sadly it is going to be a very predictable programme.

I am no longer surprised by the bigotry and prejudice of 'the left' and other opponents of grammar schools.
You can select (to a degree) by ability in art and music but Heaven forbid you select by academic ability!
Sinn Fein are in the process of killing the 11+ in Northern Ireland yet did you know that 75% of children there currently achieve five good GCSEs as opposed to the 66% that achieve this in England?
Did you know that under the existing selective system there, some 43 per cent of Northern Irish pupils who go on to university are from "disadvantaged" backgrounds, compared to just over 28 per cent under the mainland comprehensive system?
And the government says it wants to raise standards and get more kids from poorer backgrounds to uni!
Pfft!

I heard a trailer for it yesterday; the gist of it was that it's all middle class parents paying for tuition to get their kids in, leaving the bright but poor out on a limb.

Mike