Petition against grammar school expansion

But there are Tory MPs who are against it.

Sam Freedman was asked what Michael Gove's position was and he said he didn't know, but I reckon Gove isn't in favour of grammars otherwise we'd have them already. Gove wanted a grammar school education for all. This policy just pisses over everything he tried to achieve with his curriculum reforms. Nicky Morgan said as much, she has come out against grammars.

Nonsense
I am all for grammar schools. Why so negative about them. Not their fault that some academies are crap. Raise the standard of the alternatives, not pull apart an educational system that works well for many.
I have DC at both grammar and academy

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/baroness-nicholson-returns-to-tory-fold-21-years-after-joining-lib-dems-35039281.html

/www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/baroness-nicholson-returns-to-tory-fold-21-years-after-joining-lib-dems-35039281.html

The Government it seems have got one more member of the House of Lords on their side .

The speculation is she rejoined the Conservative party because she is in favor of grammar schools, as well as disagreeing with the Lib Dems over Europe.

Even if the responses are simply sorted pro/anti then they will have to report numbers of each.

Responding to the Green Paper, my experience is:

It can be hard to figure out how to even respond, sometimes the consultation paper itself is hard to find. Then they don't make it obvious or easy to even find the online survey (provided for collecting replies) or the address to post your letter to. Keep looking hard.

Typically there is an online survey made up of set questions about specific sections of the paper: these questions may not allow you to raise any points (for or against) that matter to you. The questions may (all) be very mock-innocent "How much do you agree that education needs to be improved", and "Do you agree that it's important to give bright children from poor children access to the best possible education." Chances for you to raise your own ideas, using the online survey, may be minimal.

I always swear at this point that the whole thing is a stitch up (witness most recent consultation about future of the BBC). So writing to your MP using your own bullet points may be the highest impact action. You could write a full letter to consultation panel, too, but I am convinced these are dealt with crudely:

Either sorted into 2 simple categories of for/anti proposed changes, OR

...used to go thru the online form & they pretend to answer all those vague questions from the info in your letter.

Offline, you got me wrong. I just want teachers focussed on the job of teaching children in our school. As soon as they are distracted elsewhere standards could slip

I emailed my MP this morning and asked him to vote against this. (He is a conservative.) It will be interesting to see his reply, our constituency is fully comprehensive and pretty much all of the schools are good/outstanding and get excellent results. No one wants selection around here, no angst about the 11 plus, just a certainty of a good school and generally some choice as well.

I most definitely won't be signing. Having visited three local grammars in the last few months, they are full of kids from working class backgrounds, with parents who are striving for better for their children. What's wrong with that?!
I definitely do want more grammars. The entrance requirements for the few there are are not so ridiculous that some very able children are missing out.
If you went to a comprehensive and went on to Cambridge - brilliant. But the sad truth is that there are a lot of children being pulled down to the lowest common denominator in comprehensives, and are not getting the education they deserve.

Portico 's post demonstrates how division breeds division.

god i blame mn for the whole bring back grammar school crap

it's just mental

I will definitely respond to the green paper. Will it be easy to find out how to take part in the consultation?

Grammar schools: the wrong solution to an unclear question! Far more pressing serious issues with education, mostly caused by the government.

I would sign the petition for one reason only. I have two ds at grammar school, y7 and y9. Not sure when impacts will kick in, but would not want their GCSEs disrupted by our school having to buddy up with another school, and thus overlook the grammar children. Sorry.

I was that super-bright student, MaQueen, stuck in a bog-standard comprehensive. I still managed to get to Cambridge, despite coming from a home with two parents who did not have a single qualification between them. Yes, there were times when I wished lessons were more stretching, but I was able to pursue higher level learning outside of school, off my own bat.

My mother, also super-bright, ended up at a crap secondary modern that did not even offer the chance to take CSEs, purely because she was so nervous on the day that she flunked her 11 plus. It changed the course of her whole life. That cannot be right. Grammar schools will just reduce social mobility even further, I'm afraid. I don't feel the many should be sacrificed for the few. Why not provide extra lessons for the super-bright within comps and academies? The same outcome is reached for the top set, without ensuring the other 80% suffer life-blighting detriment.

I am more angry about the plan to expand religious schools tbh. That will really help integration and cohesion, won't it?

Why should anybody be stuck in a shitty, local sink comp? It will probably do less damage to the super bright than anyone else.

Make every school a Grammar School.

They can move up to the very top of their 'middle' set, surely.

It isn't a perfectly fair system. No system is. How fair is it that a super bright kid is stuck with the shitty, local sink comp just because their parents can't afford to move into the catchment of the naice leafy comp?

Keep us posted about when the Green Paper is out, Noble. I will respond to the consultation.

So, what difference does it make if they're having lessons in a different building?

Exactly. Why waste time, money and effort in building a new building just for your DC to have the same lessons in them? That money could go on much more productive things, like school budgets which are facing massive cuts.

There will be a Green Paper with the policy details issued on Monday.

Better than signing a petition would be to respond to the Green Paper consultation with details of objections to the proposals.

The DfE will have to read all the responses, and the responses will be published.

I was at a talk by Nick Gibb (Schools Minister) this morning. He could not have come across as less enthusiastic about the proposals.

"So, what difference does it make if they're having lessons in a different building?" Exactly! It won't make any difference to them but it will make a difference to the more able students in the middle sets who will have the chance to move up to the top sets - even if it's only in one subject. They too deserve the chance to excel and be with a like-minded peer group.

Well, they're certainly more able than the other 80%.

I can only speak from my experience, but both my DDs are equally strong at science subjects and humanity subjects. So are their friends. They're all strong all rounders.

If they were kept in a comprehensive they would be in all the top sets. So, as I understand it, they wouldn't ever be in the same lessons as the less able pupils, anyway.

So, what difference does it make if they're having lessons in a different building?

Signed. Grammars are a terrible thing.

Are we describing everyone in the top 20% as "very able"? Some might be top 1% in one subject yet average at others. What about the top 21% or top 30% (at age 11). Would they be better served by having the top 20% removed from their school and then by being given a more vocational education?

Blue okay, so some children might only be 'very able' in one subject. That's fine.

However, grammar schools are for children who are 'very able' in every academic subject.