Do you know what a grammar school is?

[chestonher]

Seems a silly question but here me out

DH didn't know. Not really, some vague idea but that was it.

My SIL didn't have a clue, I asked her out of interest in passing about any local ones. She said 'what's that? ' a friend of hers was there at the time and agreed she didn't know either that such a thing existed - that you could take a test to her into a school you don't pay for with fees.

None of them knew what the 11+ is.

So that's 3 people.

They are all from and live in Bedfordshire. I am from somewhere else in the South East - and where I'm from, if you're bright, you take the 11+.

These aren't people without anything about them either, my H has a professional job. The other two people are fairly well paid

I went to a grammar school but it only took at what was year three (would now be year 9) so we sat a 13+ and then moved from the standard secondary. They went to 11+ some years after I left.

Lots of information on www.elevenplusexams.co.uk

Vaguely but they don't exist in my county or even neighbouring counties so I don't really need to learn any more about them

It seems to be very area dependent.

I’m West Yorkshire and grammar schools are very common in this area.

Most of the UK doesn't have grammar schools. DH thinks he knows what they are because he went to one in the 1960s when every child sat the 11+ and all those who passed went to the local grammar.

Unlike the system now where only a few take the 11+ and even if they pass they don't necessarily get a place. The nearest grammar to us is an hour's drive away (no public transport) in the next county yet some people are willing to spend two hours a day taking DC to this school. Not to mention additional trips for sporting and parents events. There is an outstanding comp 6 miles away. This really only possible for those who are well off enough for one parent not to work or to employ a nanny.

I live in Northants, next to Bedfordshire and don't know of any grammar schools

Bedfordshire had the three tier system very recently, they may still have it, I think so did some of Northamptonshire up until about 2015

Yes because we learned about them in history ( I'm neatly 50 )and the Tri partite system and my paren5s ( both aged 80) failed their 11+ ,you do realise Op that in many parts of the country there haven't been Grammar schools for 50 + years ?

We have grammar schools here (Gloucestershire) but not every child takes the 11+ and lots of the kids come from pretty far away. Some of my daughters friends travel for over an hour each way every day. If she had only got into a grammar that was that distance away I would have sent her to one of the local comps instead.

Why on earth would it be ?
There have Been no Grammar schools in my town or surrounding towns since the 1970,s

No actual Grammars in my county (one still uses its historic name) and I dunno what a Grammar is coz I failed my 11+. Obvs doing some exercises from a workbook just wasn't enough preparation.

No regrets, my comprehensive was lovely and I still did well enough there.

Yep because I went to one.

Husband and friends from the Midlands didn't know what one was and assumed it's public school.

Yes, I went to one.

Academic, for those who could pass the 11+ and the subsequent interview. Generally everyone went on to university afterwards. Our school turned out doctors, MPs, dentists.

Downside was if you didn't want to be a doctor, dentist or MP, the 'careers lady' used to look a bit puzzled, and try to persuade you to become a teacher. She was a woman with little imagination. 😀

Yes, I went to one. My parents also went to them in the 50s. I also live in a grammar school county (different one from the one in which I grew up). So it would be hard for me to miss them.

I know, but I didn't go to one, because the year after I started my junior school, my county changed to comprehensive and my school became a middle school, and we then all went to the same secondary age 13, where we becamethe first year to do GCSEs rather than O-levels/CSEs. They still have primary/middle school/secondary there. Where I currently live, they have primary/secondary/6th form. One of the towns just over the border in the next county here has grammars. A colleague has just been very stressed about her daughter's 11+ exams and is now waiting on results.

There's a Wikipedia page on grammar schools in England with a map and a list of all the 163 state grammars in England.

Yes. I Went to one in the south East. Definitely received zero tutoring and I don’t know anyone who was tutored at the time for 11+ ( I’m mid 30s, so this was around 20 years ago)
My parents left school at 15 and were not at all interested in our education. I think the school must have just signed me up for the test, I passed, and just went to the grammar by default.

I'm old enough to remember the schools in the town where I grew up turning comprehensive. My elder siblings were at the grammar at the time.
There are a couple of grammars in the county where I now live but they are, in my opinion, too far away, though I do know a couple of families who drive their children 45+ miles each way to the nearest one. They pass 2 extremely good comprehensives to get there, which in my opinion is ridiculous but they obviously think it is worthwhile. I don't think my children would be able to explain what a grammar school is. In fact my son was under the impression that the ex grammar pupils who recently moved to his school for 6th form had come from a private school.
There are lots of areas where there are very few or no grammars and haven't been for decades so it's not surprising that not everyone understands tge term.

No idea what they are but from thread titles on here which I skim over and occasionally click into, I suspect they're geared at students good at English or Maths? That's my presumption. I've never googled because they sound horrendous and were never on my radar. I have dated British men who say that you need to get the child into the right kindergarten, then the right school, then the right grammar school. Feeder schools or something? Is Eton a grammar school?
It sounds like pretentious hothousing for the Conservative party and toffs.

Did you know that white British are the 4th lowest earners in London? I suspect grammar schools churn out a lot of white British but they don't seem to be doing too well. 😏

Sorry, that should read the 4th highest earners.

Can you tell I would never have gotten into a grammar school? 😆

Yes. My DS goes to one.

Another NI grammar school kid here!

One thing I would say, don't assume that grammar school will automatically be the best school for your child, even if they are bright. My two both sailed through the 11+, got a place at the grammar school of their choice, but while one has thrived, it was entirely the wrong environment for the other, and we ended up moving her to a much smaller, lower pressure setting.

Care to enlighten us uneducated masses as to what they are then?

I have heard of them, and know what they are, as my parents both went to their local grammar school. However, we haven't had them in this area for years and years. Here, there are schools called <insert place name> Grammar School, but they are actually comprehensives...