Labour reviewing school admission criteria

Well, mine would both have been “impacted” for the better.

Not denying that. They then destroyed them.

I'm sorry but l don't have an encyclopaedic knowledge of all of England's bus routes. It was just a suggestion!

Also this new mooted scheme is just another load of Labour Hocus Pocus Drivel.

This week's gimmick from a bunch very feckless people who call themselves a government

Important to remember that it was the Conservatives who introduced BTecs

Its a shane more schools aren't given funding for vocational subjects alongside academic. My DDs school offferss Construction, Business Management Catering and Animal Care (farming area, although the course is domestic animals). They ate really popular subjects, even amongst the "academic" children for a bit of a range.
(Mine is doing Triple Science, Spanish, Geography and Animal Care).

Some of the things you have mentioned, beauty, painting and decorating, are looked down on and it’s ridiculous.

My dh did really well at school and he really wanted to be a plumber. His parents were devastated at that, apparently. His school told him not to “waste his talent” by doing it.

He did actually do an apprenticeship with a plumber for a little while, but was talked out of it to go back and do A levels and go to uni, which he did. His friend, who my in-laws looked down on as he wasn’t academic at all, stayed on his plumbing apprentice, straight out of school. Guess which one earns the most money and has more earning potential now at 40, has their own business, loves what he does, can work when they like and has the least stress?

It’s not my accountant husband. But hey, my in-laws have his uni graduation photo on the wall, so that’s all that matters.

Yes I agree with this. I worked at a school in Birmingham in a very rough area. Most of the pupild at that school did not pass gcses. They trialled a pilot scheme with the council and college to do nvqs. It was a massive success with kids predicted to fail, passing motor vehicle mechanics, beauty and painting & decorating. Most of the kids went there after school to progress further. One boy who was written off at school became a mechanics apprentice 2 years after leaving school because of the nvq program, made me feel happy.

It’s not “loaded”. Dc would be impacted by this policy.

Labour don't care about social mobility. They say they do but they repeatedly then penalise those who try eg VAT on school fees, talk of this admissions policy etc.
What they want is a ceiling of mobility which no-one, other than the members of the Labour Party, can go above. Clearly evidenced by their ridiculous classification of "working people" in the list of "approved" jobs for access to the Civil Service internships.
So you can be aspirational if your parents are train drivers, but not if they are nurses or taxi drivers.

The word “impact” is such a loaded term. My children went to different schools-one disproportionately privileged, one disproportionately under privileged. Both would have benefitted from more balanced cohorts.

If this just means adding fsm in the admissions criteria, ahead of distance, I dont think its going to be a big deal. Most parents want thier closest school for logistical reasons.

The type of fsm patent who wants thier child to go to a further away school as its better, It already invested in education in a way that they are prepared for a bit of awkwardness. This isn't going to ruin a previously nice school.

It would push out a few children on the periphery, to further away schools but this is the case on high birth years too.

So would your dc be impacted then?

Oh, you do like to make judgements about other people,don’t you!

I’m disparaging about certain btecs, yes. I was a welfare officer in a secondary once. The amount of mainly girls who were pushed into health and social care or childcare was ridiculous. some were miserable about it. They didn’t want to work with children or the elderly and some would come to me miserable. Like all they could hope for was to get a shit paying job caring for others.

And no, not everyone has to be academic. But palming them off on btecs that they have no interest in and they might end up in a min wage job for a bit they can’t stand and don’t care about isn’t the answer either. I don’t know is.

It’s mostly those whose dc won’t be directly affected going by the posts below that are pro Labour no matter what.

That’s usual for mn but I doubt MC parents with dc who will be used this way will want it.

It was always the “oh we shouldn’t expect everyone to be academic” gang who were the most disparaging about BTecs.

Important to remember that it was the Conservatives tore the heart out of the BTec system….

I think it was a Conservative move to end grammar schools.
"
"it was actually the Conservative education secretary... who made the first move.

Edward Boyle was a quiet, ferociously intelligent, Eton-educated but surprisingly moderate Conservative MP who in 1963 wrote in the foreword to a report on secondary school reorganisation that “all children should have an equal opportunity of acquiring intelligence and developing their talents and abilities to the full”. At a leading education conference that year he said that separating children at 11 would no longer be regarded as “the norm”. "

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/who-was-the-first-politician-to-announce-the-end-of-grammar-schools/

Perhaps we should have a system like the Dutch where you are tested in primary and then placed into one of three levels of secondary school with differing curriculums?

I think this is important.

The idea that social mobility is the answer assumes that the best kind of life is a middle class life and that everyone wants that and if we just educate everyone enough, they will all become middle class.

But actually, not everyone wants that or is cut out for it. And why should they be, there are all kinds of work that are important.

My dp worked his whole life in building, he didn't have a formal trade but learned on the job as many do, painting, plastering, drywall, some tiling. He liked what he did and was sought after because he was a perfectionist, and would have had no interest in becoming middle class or going to school for any longer than he did.

It's great to make it possible for kids who want to do something differernt from their families to do that. It works in differernt directions too, kids from professional or academic families that want to go into trades or something like agriculture are often at a disadvantage too, particular with apprenticeships or getting work experience as teens, which can be important pathways.

Butas a social policy to better society, I don't see social mobility as an answer.

TBH, the working class tag for the families at poor schools is unhelpful. The problem isn’t class as such, it’s terrible parents of disruptive, aggressive children and who behave badly towards the school staff themselves.

To judge by MN posts there are enough of these parents and children to make a destructive difference in many schools. If the social and educational engineers on here can think of a way to weed these people out of catchment busting, then I’ll listen. Otherwise it just seems to me that more classrooms in more schools will suffer.

Expulsion seems to be frowned on these days. Any other ideas?

This post is heart breaking and no wonder why we have the issues in this country that we do when people write off children this quickly who then become adults.

I came from a working class family with divorced parents and grew up on a council estate. I am probably the definition of working class. My mum was illiterate but worked full time some time 3 jobs with cleaning on the side to keep a roof over our heads. She was an amazing mum who taught us well. Our parents loved us and raised us with respect for all those around us. I went to the local girls secondary school. My sister dropped out of school due to a SA incident and got a job at 15 and worked her way up doing courses on the way and is now very successful in her own right although not earning what Mumsnet deems a worthy amount.
I did well academically and pursued my dream but again probably not the highest financial role but an important one !
My children go to the local catholic school and one is heading to a very affluent secondary school.
we were raised well, fed well and our children are also high achievers who have every chance to succeed in life.
we care about their academics but we also care they are respectful, kind, polite and that they also have fun outside the pressure of education.
not a single one has ever been in trouble at school and have amazing school reports.

of course not all working class families are perfect and there will be some terrible parents but I can bet you there is also a bunch of adults who were raised in middle class families who don’t have a good word to say about their parents !

What do you mean by “socialist class envy”?

Maybe they think, or have done research that shows, that mixing up the intake is a way of improving schools?

Why not take steps to improve badly performing schools instead of sending local kids outside the locality? This is levelling down, not levelling up. Socialist class envy at it's worst.