Burnham Grammar School

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drummer

Burnham Grammar School

Post by drummer »

Our local school is Burnham which according to it's Ofsted is more like a comprehensive than a grammar school - it is 5th from the bottom in national grammar school results. over 30% of it's intake scored below the pass mark - It's head teacher has explained that, because it is a relatively large school for it's catchment area it gets most of the appeal students.

The Ofsted report also says it doesn't do enough for it's higher ability students.

Anyone have any comments? Seems a little unfair that our local should be so poor compared to the rest of Bucks Grammars because it has to take all the relatively low ability students from all over Bucks, Berks, Hillingdon. :(
Pete

Post by Pete »

How does it compare to Langley Grammmar.My son has been offered both Burnham and Langley.Which is a better school ?
Guest

Post by Guest »

That will change now though as all the appeal children go into first allocation - and I notice this year that at this stage Burnham is full so somebody must want to go there! I think it is a very up and coming school and will get a broader mix of abilities now that appeals are heard before first allocation(good idea I think) and places are (rightly or wrongly) based on distance not score.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Post by Guest55 »

I agree that it's improving - places were allocated on score now [since 2005 intake] it's on distance from the school.

This has changed the intake of several Grammars - some for the better - this is too soon to translate to results as the first pupils are in Year 8.
drummer

Post by drummer »

According to the school itself (speaking this year) it is full because it is the only option left for those appealing their test results - it takes students from a very long way off.

Looking at academic results (clearly not the only criteria to judge by) Langley does much much better than Burnham - however Burnham has a much lower ability input so who is to say which school an individual child might do better at.

I don't know where you get the impression that Burnham is up and coming from. I'd love to know because it would be one less thing to worry about!

Burnham has also been used as a way of getting into other area Grammars. Last year, two students who live in Slough failed the Slough exam but managed to get into Burnham on appealing their Bucks results. They then transferred into their local Grammar (Langley I think).
Guest

Post by Guest »

Can't understand why the school would say it is full because it is the only option left to students appealling their test results unless they mean children outside of Bucks as Bucks appeals finish before, and are included in, allocation day. So presumably they mean Berkshire appeals and if that is the case those would not have been successful in the first allocation anyway as I understand they are yet to happen?(I live in Bucks). I say it is up and coming because a broader selection of children are going there and those who are in the catchment are accepting it (and promoting it) as they do not have the same chance of an out of catchment school as they may have under the old score system. It used to be the back-up school for girls not getting into Challoners girls under the old system as well so had the hangover of 'second choice'. So having lived in Bucks for eight or so years I can notice the change in attitude towards schools like Burnham and Chesham. Sometimes having less of a choice makes people look more positively at what they do have - this from parents whom previously would not have even put Burnham as one of their six choices. The same used to happen to Chesham, which incidently is 'all offered' with places to spare! Doesn't make it a bad school (3 0f my children chose Chesham over Challoners - we are very lucky to have the choice)Having said all that I dont know Langley at all and as Guest 55 says it is too early to tell from any data how well Burnham will perform in the future. So, good luck and personally I wouldn't worry too much because we really are lucky to have such good schools compared to other parts of the country and I'm sure you will find the right school to suit your child.
Guest

Post by Guest »

Drummer, As a parent of a child in Year 7 of Burnham Grammar i do not understand how you can say it is more like a Comprehensive!!!. Burnham may not be the 'best' on the National register of Grammars, indeed you say it is near the bottom BUT if its your local catchment school its results over the past few years have been consistant at 90 - 95% whilst Burnham Upper is around 25% - quite a difference i believe.
Also Grammar schools offer a wider curriculem and children are not robots and maybe Burnham have kids who 'got lucky' on the day of the exam to obtain their place and people like my son got through on appeal but it doesnt mean Compehensive - my local comp had results of 32% so i know where i want my son to be -a chance of being one of the '94%ish' or one of the 20%ish.

Guest94
drummer
Posts: 529
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:47 pm
Location: South Bucks

Post by drummer »

Anonymous wrote:Drummer, As a parent of a child in Year 7 of Burnham Grammar i do not understand how you can say it is more like a Comprehensive!!!.
The Ofsted report itself says that it is not fair to compare Burnham to other Grammar Schools because it's intake is so much broader in ability than a 'normal' Grammar - 30% of it's are well below the usual Grammar school minimum ability - that makes it's intake much more akin to that of a comprehensive school (ie a secondary school in a non-selective area)
Anonymous wrote:Burnham may not be the 'best' on the National register of Grammars, indeed you say it is near the bottom
It is 5th from the bottom of all the Grammar schools in the country (a lot) and a lot of Comprehensive schools in no-selective areas outperform Burnham.

It's students acheive well below the student's in other Bucks Grammar schools. Aren't the children in the Burnham catchment area who have passed the 11+ entitled to as good a Grammar school as those living in High Wycombe or Amersham say?
Anonymous wrote:BUT if its your local catchment school its results over the past few years have been consistant at 90 - 95% whilst Burnham Upper is around 25% - quite a difference i believe.
Burnham Upper is not a comprehensive school - it is what used to be called a 'secondary modern'.
Anonymous wrote: maybe Burnham have kids who 'got lucky' on the day of the exam to obtain their place and people like my son got through on appeal
Guest94
Of course some kids get lucky and some high ability crumble on test day and have to appeal but the proportion of these should be roughly the same in all schools.

Again, the school says that for many reasons it still gets a huge number of last ditch appeal students from all over the county and elsewhere.

And again. I don't think it is fair that our local Grammar for which our kids have to study just as hard to get into as RGS etc, is so poor compared to all the other Grammar schools.
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Post by Guest55 »

Drummer - please read my post again!

Things have changed because the system changed two years ago - there is evidence that the intake is higher now.
drummer
Posts: 529
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:47 pm
Location: South Bucks

Post by drummer »

Guest55

The school itself says the situation is ongoing - they are still getting very large numbers of lower ability students
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