my son is going to the local bog standard comp

I don't think going to private school is necessarily going to enable your dc to choose any career they want, Pusheed! You might need a reality check there at some point.....

Anyway, yes - great thread

*you're - sorry

But probably better thna 'Of course you can be a vet darling...'

Far better surely to let her know NOW what she needs to do if she is capable of some serious hard work to get her grades up to A+, or to gently nudge her in another direction.

And I still don't buy your argument about getting a degree then becoming a (very-much-in-debt) chef. If you're bright but don't know what you want to do at 18 (and not many do!) then yes you need to kep options open. But if your not that academic then what?

Not all private schools are academic - even rich people have average kids. So, no I am not stating she would be a straight A student if she had gone private.

I was merely responding to the specific point that getting into a top uni/job is not everyone's objective for their kids.

I wanted to study Law at Uni but my grades weren't good enough. As a graduate I wanted to join the Foreign Office but my cv was not good enough to even get pass stage 1.

Today I have two DCs in private schools so I obviously haven't sufffered financially because of my 'humble' start :) However, I want my DCs to choose whatever career they want and to have the qualifications that will give them a good chance of landing their dream job as opposed to having to compromise at such a young age.

Yep mine all went to the local comp, great thread op

MistyB ???

Earth friendly baby lotion / cream and lush dream cream which does however have a number of parabens which according to them are old ones and some of the least risky? Burts bees are good too. Many products contain something that somebody somewhere is likely to have a problem with so I've always found muscle reaction testing best to see if it suits an individual. You can do this without opening the cream and therefore youdon'thace to try it first to see if it will react.

"But what's the point of getting a degree if you want to be a chef?"

None, if that is your ambition at the age of 18 :) I was simply making the point that it is better to have a good degree and not need it then to decide you want to be a lawyer at the age of 21 and realise that you didnt have the grades to get into a good training program.

"And what's the point in your friend trying to be positive in front of his dd when she clearly isn't cut out academically to be a vet?"

Sorry dear but you aren't clever enough to be a Vet - that should go down well :)

But pusheed surely someone has to get Bs and Cs? Or are you saying she'd be a straight A* student if she'd gone to private school?

She should stay positive and with right support and guidance [God I hate it when teachers make assumptions] you can do anything you want to do be realistic yes but with damned hard work you can do anything !!

Adverse - that was our local secondary too. We're a few years further down the line and couldn't be happier! Head is still there which is great.

But what's the point of getting a degree if you want to be a chef? And what's the point in your friend trying to be positive in front of his dd when she clearly isn't cut out academically to be a vet?

And if you want to be an engineer it's much easier (and cheaper) to go to univerity and make sure you do engineering, not just some random degree. Horses for courses and all that.

"Perhaps we aren't all aiming for our DC to get into a top Uni or get a top Grad job. It isn't the be all and end all"

I guess we are motivated by different things then.

A friend's 15 year old DD wants to be a Vet. The career officer told my friend that his DD is predicted Bs and Cs in her coming GCSEs. Unis get so many applications that they immediately cull any applicants that don't have a range of A*/A for GCSE science subjects BEFORE they look at predicted A level grades.

The friend is trying to be positive in front of his DD but he knows his DD has little chance of getting into her dream job.

At an adult level, I have a friend who has a 2ii Physics degree. He was telling me that ads for research jobs invariably say that one needs to have a 1st, just to get one's cv pass HR. At the age of 21 he knew that his career as a reseacher wasn't even going to get started.

I want my DCs to choose their careers as opposed to their qualifications making the choice for them. Armed with a good degree they then can decide whether they want to be a cook, soldier, engineer, lawyer. As opposed to some career officer telling them, at the age of 15, that they can't be a vet .

Grimma you seem bitter about the education system

No idea where you got that from! Our local 'bog standard' is a very good non-academized comp. The 'failing' comp has recently been academized (hence my view that 'academy' status can have variable meaning) ; so has the neighbouring area excellent GS (which is where DD goes, as it happens, but she'd have been fine at the BSC if that's what she'd preferred)

Grimma you seem bitter about the education system did you have a negative experience oh and ours is an academy now as well

sparkling - academization seems to be roughly either (a) pretentions of being above BS (may or may not be in actuality) or (b) some desparate means of retreiving a failing (sub-BS) school.

Goodness knows where 'Free' schools fit into the scheme of things...

Just bog standard makes it sound as if not good that all if you count the school as you described that my two eldest go to it is bog standard then but wow no way would I call it that it is excellent with an outstanding Ofsted

Oh Grimma our bog standard comp has become an academy, does that make it not bog standard?

Well obviously grammars and indies get more into 'top' universities - they have brighter cohorts on average - due to selecting their pupils. The pupils also have, again on average, backgrounds where education is valued so they tend to be encouraged to stay on to do A Levels. Finally (and this IS where the state sector couldl do with a kick up the proverbial), they tend to do academic A Levels, rather than Dance Studies etc.

However a bright child in the state system with a supportive home and the right combination of A Levels is no less able to go to Oxbridge than their independently educated counterpart.

Sorry but I cannot see why you would send your child to a failing school if a better one available or the term bog standard referring to its non selectiveness

'Bog standard' does not mean failing. It means the majority of schools which aren't selective (by academic or 'faith' criteria). Probably also means it's not (yet) been academized.

Just a regular school.

You can never get hold of a plumber imnot.

There is nothing wrong with plumbing they earn loads and very technical job you know and I agree top university what that all about surely you go to the right university for course and for individual surely we all have to aim high for kids

I would be well chuffed if DS1 got into any Uni-I didn't know it had to be a 'top' one. Then again he may want to be a plumber. He's 12-who knows?

Sorry but I cannot see why you would send your child to a failing school if a better one available or the term bog standard referring to its non selectiveness ??