ronshar - you are right, you are being too simplistic . The issues are far more complex than just putting an extra few adults in some schools.

I think he would have said "blue skies thinking" given half a chance!

Do you think the pun was intentional, or is the leader so used to talking in cliches he didn't realise?

Jeremy Vine had her on his show, plus the leader of the council. Obvious where his sympathies lay - gave the mum some very soft criticism which she easily rebutted, and gave the council leader a total grilling!

Council leader: "We have a duty to create a level playing field..."

JV: "So does that extend to making all schools in Harrow equally good?"

Isnt that something that can be dealt with by increasing the staff pupil ratio?
If the education authorities hadn't swallowed all the crap about all children being equal and teaching all children at the same low level then most of these problems wouldnt be occuring anyway! Dont you think?

Not if some of the pupils are shouting, being disruptive, threatening the teachers with rape, etc.

The schools have little power to exclude the troublemakers so basically the good kids are dragged down rather than vice versa.

But surely if the teachers are teaching the same things eventually the different pupils will come out knowing the same things.

I am aware that parents are responsible for their childrens attitude to school but in the areas where there are social issues why do the schools not get extra teachers, TA's etc? Smaller class sizes, extra English lessons for those who English is second language. We have a duty to teach all pupils equally dont we?

Every single school in the country could teach the same thing, but the problem is the pupils. You're going to get a different set of pupils on some grim council estate, a Bradford suburb where nobody speaks English, or a posh village in Cheshire.

Good schools are 90% the result of 'good' parents.

I cant help but think that the government and local education authorities are missing the point.
We all want the best education we can get for our children. If the local school is crap we will look for the school which isnt.

Surely the answer is to ensure ALL schools are good then the problem is solved!!!!
Competion is bollocks as it still means that some schools will have the bad teachers. How does that help the parents and children who have to tgo to that school.
Why cant every single school in the country teach the same things, in the same manor. Then the schools will be as good as each other, no one needs to move or lie etc!

Or am I being too simplistic and naive?

I think the whole thing is bazar. Loads of people round here lie about something, to get their child in.