I work in 90 different secondary schools AMA

[Auntieaunt]

Basically as above. I'm also not Ofsted before I get a flaming from teachers;)

It's a government funded role, I have a DBS so often wondering around by myself and teachers rarely put on a show. It's in an educational role just for year 10/11s.

My schools are varied from £30,000 A year to failing - rural to urban to grammar and SEN.

To kick things off my first observation is that state schools usually have better facilities than those in the private sector.

Okay, I have two £30k schools (yes, they're slightly less but with uniforms/kits/music lesson) they're pretty much 30k. Facilities are great - huge fields with ten rugby pitches, a cricket club house and a 25 metre pool. The gym looks like it's been looked after and the schools doesn't have graffiti on tables/walls/doors etc. However I was surprised that an English/languages/geography classroom looks like same as a state classroom - same furniture, same computer, same interactive white board, same textbooks etc - imagined floor to ceiling shelves with books with an antique desk for the teacher and laptops/computers for every student. The facilities are great but take away the students/teachers and they look like a normal school.

I then probably go into seven/eight other private schools (9-14K a year) , albeit two they all have 15-30 students in year 10/11 - facilities aren't great at all and the local state blows them out of the water. The three smaller schools don't even have a playing field let a lone a large hall, bog standard art/tech facilities and zero drama/sports. I've been into a couple of private schools that still use a projector and white board while the students spend all day in what would have been an Victorian-residental dining room. The larger private schools do have similar facilities to the better state/academies but only one out of all eight has a swimming pool.

Academies/states on the other hand do still have spaces for sports even in built up cities, a stage/lights/fab sound systems, I've seen an in house radio booth/green room/media facilities, just generally academies do have good facilities - I've also been in those ugly 1960 secondary modern which 'get the job done'.

I don't think people really choose privates for the facilities or teaching though do they? They just don't want their DC with the riffraff and to make connections with similarly affluent families.

rubbish, aint. We are looking at private because we are not anywhere near the catchment of the outstanding state girls school we like (no other girls' state schools locally) and I don't want DD shipped off to a school miles away - the local private girls' is a bike ride away. Both DH and I went to private schools and we didn't come out with any 'connections' and work in a pretty poorly paid industry. The local mixed state comp is outstanding (we also wouldn't get into that either, it has the catchment of a sneeze) and packed to the gills with the children of educated middle class affluent families.

And yes, the facilities in the girls' private blow the comps out of the water. I think the teaching is of a similar standard but smaller classes in the private, and not subject to the government of the day endlessly dicking around with the curriculum and funding. No concept of children not being able to do the GCSEs they want due to timetable clash/staffing problems.

The school that is most local to us is an academy which has whispers of backdoor selection, hence my question to the OP - if a school is going to select, then be upfront about it and don't call yourself a comp. And no-one I know, rich or poor, working or middle class, black or white, wants their DC to go to that school.

I realise my working is muddled - I'm talking about 2 different local schools in my first and last para - outstanding one further away but still 'local'.

Sorry but I find your disappointment of the classroom facilities a bit odd. What would an antique desk add to an education?

As long as a classroom has desks, chairs, an interactive whiteboard/normal whiteboard and a laptop/computer with a sound system for listening exercises in MFL classes, I don't see what more you need.

Do they have less knife crime in the private schools?

How do schools differ? Do you get a feel for ‘good’ schools? Based on what?

Good schools are those that have confident (NOT COCKY) Kids. Those who can ask questions, treat others with respect and generally have okay (literally the lack of ability to talk to an outsider is rife in some schools) communication skills.

My absolute favourite school is an all girls' school that the girls are confident, mature, feel secure enough to be happily out/different/be themselves and generally happy. The whole school feels calm as the teachers and students have a mutual respect for each other - i've never heard shouting in the corridor etc but the students have the teachers trust. It's nearly 18K a year so I doubt i'll be able to send any possible kids there but that's the kind of school i'll be looking for.

do you think, in academies in particular, there is selection via the back door? Kids being removed from the roll?

I have absolutely no idea, I have heard the opposite that the academies lose money for those they throw out - some behaviour is awful and yet they're still there - but honestly no idea.

Is there a genuine correlation between extremely strict rules about uniform/minor misdemeanours and quality of learning?

I think uniform is a red herring - those in less economical areas/schools that aren't doing great in ofsted don't have the best uniforms - kids walking around in trainers/hair cuts that are against rules etc but that's because the parents don't adhere to the rules either - they literally don't care/have bigger issues to deal with (I deal with a lot of parents within this role). Why would a parent spend years couching their kids for a certain school to risk having them removed over a fashionable hair cut? They wouldn't. I've heard things like 'my mum says call her if you've got a problem as she doesn't' / 'my mum took me to get my hair cut and says you should too' - A kid will get pulled up, made to apologise and then carry on. There's not many schools i've been to that the uniform is slacking and the school isn't struggling in dealing with behaviour ( I was surprised that swearing isn't pulled up on now, even in class discussion!)

How does behaviour honestly compare? I teach in an Outstanding school with a fantastic reputation. The behaviour is some teachers classrooms is appalling!

Sometimes I wonder how some teachers got the role/qualified - literally some I wonder would struggle getting a job as a cashier with the lack of communication/motivation/social skills. When I first started and had my first day without being shadowed I went into a classroom and introduced myself to the teacher - she then said 'are you going to start', i gently mentioned that the kids were quite rowdy and she replied 'good luck, I don't know what to do with them' - she was the form tutor!

I've also been shocked how some teachers are so relaxed with the students that they treat them like mates. Don't blink at them swearing in class discussions, mentioning lots of drug references and i've even seen some sexual harassment (last week one lad singled out a girl and told her to teach sex ed as she looks like she has enough of it).

Do you have children? What criteria/feel/characteristics did you/would you look for when applying for school places for them? It sounds silly but I would sit outside the school and watch the kids - are they smoking without hiding? What are their uniforms like (see previous point)? I would try to talk to as many students as possible during the open day and ask them questions that reply more than a shrug. It sounds really bad but I wouldn't send my child to a rural school unless it's a commuter town - less economical area with high minority kids who are 1/2nd gen have more respect for each other, more aspirations and have more soft skills. I'd also ask the school what trips/guest speakers/careers events they offer - some schools have regular trips to universities and motivate kids on what happens after GCSES some other schools only have the local BTEC college and army to careers events.

Did you start off as a teacher?

No, but I volunteered with this age range before. I went to one job interview for teaching but I didn't think it was for me. Honestly unless it's a 'good school' (management/kids/parent support) I wouldn't want to.

I've just come back from a tour of a private secondary and it most certainly does have better facilities than my daughters current state secondary. What are you paying for otherwise?

Extra-curricular activities - you wouldn't find a composing competition in the run-of-the-mill state school, you also wouldn't find lots of girls still participating in sports teams either. A lot of parents in this country do not care for education therefore their kids don't either. A lot of kids have given up by the time I meet them as they know they're going to do an eyelash extension course after GCSEs and they don't need any qualifications for that. Or the boys who boast that school doesn't mean anything as you can earn £££ in a trade.

I went to two careers events recently in two different schools;
One had around 70 different businesses/universities/grad schemes that included; BBC, Law firms, accountancy, environmental consultancy, engineering firms, international universities, logistic firms, insurance etc etc with guest speakers lasting 5 hours.

The one I went to two days previously had;
Two different BTEC colleges with different courses having stands, the Army, RAF, A PCSO, a lorry company, a care home and a couple of bespoke arts/sports colleges.

Both schools were only 10 miles apart from each other. This is actually made me really angry - but what can you do about it?

Surely schools with 15/30 children in year 10/11 are either catering for particular specialist needs or are failing schools. E.g. one of my friends pays an extortionate amount for her daughter to go to a school that specialises in addressing particular learning difficulties and they certainly don't have shiny facilities but they have transformed her daughter's confidence and achievement. Similarly there is a religious private school near us which also has limited numbers and facilities but presumably the parents think it is valuable. If it is that kind of school then you are not comparing like with like. If they are trying to have broader appeal then I doubt that they aim to have such small numbers and are probably not financially viable.

Hmm - you could well find a composing competition in my daughters' "run-of-the-mill" state school, and they also have an excellent careers fair. So I'm now wondering if your experience of state options is as wide as you think it is.