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Original poster

State grammar schools compared with independent schools

162 replies

SkippyYourFriendEverTrue · 10/09/2012 22:09

What are the most significant differences?

I am reading the Good Schools Guide and it is generally gushing about grammar schools and implies that you can get a £13k/year education for free. However I would have thought that class sizes would be larger at grammar schools, maybe other differences too.

I went to a state comp, there were 30 in my class, although I think that was partly because we were 'subsidising' the lower sets to have about 12 in the class.

DS is Y6 at prep school and can continue to Y8, around 15 in his class. We are concerned that he is probably quite vulnerable to bullying etc., although he hasn't that issue because the children at his prep school are all vair nice. Am a bit suspicious of state schools on this front, but that might not be fair.

It might all be irrelevant as we are in Surrey and no grammars here, but we are looking to move anyway was curious before committing to spend £100k on DS' secondary education (and then potentially the same again for DD).

OP posts:
catwoo · 11/09/2012 09:58

My Dcs grammar school has an intake at 11 and another one at 13,

Bintang · 11/09/2012 00:29

Malasian or Indonesian then?

I assumed Aussie from your username Grin

Original poster
SkippyYourFriendEverTrue · 11/09/2012 00:25

bali? tidak.

I think it probably tastes better on the beach in Bali though. Have bought some in the UK once or twice but it's not worth it really.

(I wonder if 'rendang' is taken. Mmm.....)

OP posts:
Bintang · 11/09/2012 00:18

Wow- no-one ever knew what my name meant on here!

Impressed (or maybe you just frequent Bali?)

Both I suppose Smile

Original poster
SkippyYourFriendEverTrue · 10/09/2012 23:59

Some leave at 11 but obviously they don't encourage it.

Are you named after the beer, Bintang? Or just a shining star?

OP posts:
Bintang · 10/09/2012 23:40

Our GSs have already had the entrance exams!

If your DS' prep goes to 13, surely the boys do CE not 11+ anyway?

tiggytape · 10/09/2012 23:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Blu · 10/09/2012 23:18

The Grammar tests take place any day now, don't they? afaik, any within reach of London work on competition in the test, rather than on a geographical catchment, and as such as known as 'super-selective' because competition is strong.

You need to look at individual schools. A good comp can deliver an education as good as a grammar - but the intake is more mixed and the statistics of the averages reflect that. A private school can deliver a mediocre education. A state school can be failing, a private school can be fabulous. Bullying can happen in any school....

Original poster
SkippyYourFriendEverTrue · 10/09/2012 22:46

I have been reading some of the threads in this forum and I am now conscious that only looking for a secondary school in September of Y6 is incredibly slack and lazy.

Not sure we can get into a grammar school. DS would ace any maths test and is reasonable at the 'which funny shape comes next'-type questions, but would be crap at creative writing or comprehension, but I think geography (us being 15+ miles away from the nearest grammars, either Kingston, Sutton or Sluff) is a significant impediment to an application at most.

There is a quasi-private school I saw, Gordon's School, which looks like a private school and takes boarding (mainly from army children apparently - very expensive I believe, despite being state) and you have to buy a £1m house 10 yards from the front gate to get in as a day pupil, but again have failed on the pushiness front to do that.

We are looking at More House, Frensham (not sure if this one is too 'special' for DS), St George's, Weybridge, King Edward's Witley, and want to have a look at Box Hill also, it comes across as a bit second-rate though.

OP posts:
animaltales · 10/09/2012 22:26

I have had two boys at a top mixed state grammar. No bullying issues there, but daughter at all girls grammar did have bullying.

wigglybeezer · 10/09/2012 22:26

I think you would be surprised by class sizes in senior schools, they are not generally small in mainstream subjects like Maths and English in either sector and can be very small in either sector if it's a less popular subject.

Research disproves the notion that small class sizes are advantageous, especially for able pupils.

If its a case of putting that money into a pension or saving deposits for your DC's I would consider grammar if I were you.

Original poster
SkippyYourFriendEverTrue · 10/09/2012 22:22

Hmm, I see that it's basically impossible to get into a popular grammar school unless you live within a good radius of it when applying, so probably irrelevant anyway, although not perhaps for DD.

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