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Original poster

A few questions about Grammar schools

31 replies

BelleTheBeatnik · 19/05/2012 17:10

DD1 is a few years off secondary yet, but as we're expecting to move soon-ish (from York to Oxfordshire) we've been discussing schools. We're not really keen on private schools, so have decided to rule them out unless we have suitable no alternative.

However, at a recent Parent's Evening, the teacher suggested Grammar schooling, as she thinks DD1 - bright and academic, not particularly sporty/artistic/musical - will thrive in that sort of enviroment.

I'm not really asking about suggestions for good schools, because we're not 100% about the exact area we're moving to yet. However, we have no experience of the Grammar system - and so I've turned to the wisdom of the Mumsnet! Grin

So, to those of you that work at/have children at/went to a Grammar school... (And I appreciate that every school/child is different, so it's difficult to answer these questions.)

What are the pros/cons?
What do they offer that is significantly different to other types of schools?

Only a few things are putting me off. I'm worried about the pressure students are put under to achieve certain grades - while I of course want DD to try her best, I don't want her to feel like not getting a certain grade makes her a failure. I also worry about the lack of diversity, because I think school is a great place to interact with different types of people, which teacher children to be tolerance of different. Is this an issue with Grammar school, or am I just picking faults for no reason?

Sorry for the long OP. TIA for any replies :)

OP posts:
NiceHamione · 19/05/2012 18:40

Bullying in the girl's grammar was horrific coupled with the pressured environment there was a much higher rate of eating disorders and self harm at the grammar than the comprehensives I have worked at. I could perhaps be persuaded to send my son to the grammar but never my daughter.

LaVolcan · 19/05/2012 18:38

Oxfordshire's schools are Comprehensive - they don't have Grammar schools. Some are very good - but it's what you would expect; the schools in middle class areas do well but those serving big council estates do less well. However, there are a lot of private schools around, which cream off a lot of academic children, although obviously not all.

NiceHamione · 19/05/2012 18:37

I have worked in two grammars and in part that is why my children do not attend them.

  1. facilities not as good as the local comps, although that is variable .
  2. dull teaching and anything else is discouraged
  3. resistant to change
  4. students perceived to be low ability generally sidelined , this means students likely to get a B or sometimes an A.
  5. poor pastoral care amidst lots of bullying
  6. socially poor, mainly kids from prep schools and tutored state school children
  7. teaching to the test, for example frameworks for gcse students to type coursework into which were very prescriptive
  8. Boys school could be quite brutal if you were not sporty
  9. range of options subjects quite limited.

However behaviour is generally very good and sporting achievement high.

Sometimes good for those students who struggle socially in a comp.

Doobydoo · 19/05/2012 18:36

DS1 is in year 8 at a Grammar in Lincolnshire.He is really happy.He passed 11+ with very high score having worked at 4 practice papers of each test(we had moved from Ireland and he was thrown in at the deep end).However this is how ds1 is.He is happy at school,it is fine for him to be himself.I don't get a feeling he is being overly pressured.However I expect there is a competitive element.
DS2 is only 5 and very different to ds1 at the same age.Grammar school may suit him or it may not.I suppose you need to look at the school as each one is different.
There is a lot of competition,I think.I was shocked at the tutoring and pressure put on the children.

bamboozledAardvark · 19/05/2012 18:25

Fellow Yorkie here who was also grammar school educated.

Personally I was around the cut off mark for an area with a small grammar school cohort. I hated school. I was pretty much the bottom for everything and constantly made to feel small for not knowing things. I was also pushed at a pace I couldn't keep up with and pressured into doing well. These things, however, would not be an issue for someone comfortably in the middle of the cohort who would thrive on the pressure. Because of this I would only consider grammar when the school is concerned about the whole child and not just academic results. Obviously if your DD were to be comfortably at the top of the class I wouldn't dismiss them.

If you were to move to an area with schools like those in York then I think your DD would do just as well as anywhere else. My DN is at Manor and has had the opportunity to do a range of academic subjects including latin as part of the gifted and talented programme. In terms of educating the whole child I would chose a successful comp over a grammar.

talkingnonsense · 19/05/2012 17:24

It will very much depend on what the system is where you live- is it like Kent, where approx 25% go to grammar school, and therefore a very able child may have a reduced peer group in a comp, or like Essex, where only about 5% go, the exams are therefore very competitive and the pressure is high?