Bloody hate the grammar school system

[Reluctantadult]

The town I live in has one comprehensive school and it's just been ofsteded and rated requires improvement. It's that or try to get into a grammar. If I'm honest I don't think my eldest is grammar material. Just feel stuck now.

Have you actually taken the time to read the OFSTED report to understand why the school requires improvement? And/or discuss your concerns with the school directly?

Thats the inconvenient truth people don't want to acknowledge... grammar schools can have a negative effect on the other schools.

Have you read the Ofsted report and looked at the statistics? RI isn't as bad as it sounds sometimes. It used to be called satisfactory...

My DC go to a RI comp and it's great - pastoral care is excellent, they're academically stretched in top sets and with clubs and sports...mine are grammar material but I didn't want them going off on a coach for an hour and having such a narrow focus (no practical subjects, no drama/music valued etc). I completely disagree with selection at 11 and want no part in it.

The Ofsted judgement is almost irrelevant to me. It focussed on things that don't really sorry or impact me/my DC. The head is great, the feel is good, they've got nice local friends...

Read the report, look round, don't be swayed by people whose opinion you wouldn't ask or listen to on anything else. Have confidence in your DC and plan to engage and support them to take every opportunity.

The ofsted issues were SEND and reading. I realise ofsted isn't the be all and end all. But had reservations already so this just adds to them. The pastoral care sounds lacking. Its a big school and kids get lost. They teach in forms and the amount of mucking about is pot luck. But as there is one school in town they have a captive audience.

There are parts of the country that don't have the grammar school system. Have you considered moving?

That would be another reason to hate the grammar system! Move house, move job, move away from all our family and friends.

I don't trust Ofsted to give a reflective report, not one bit! At the moment they are downgrading a lot of schools and seem to take zero account into the effects of the pandemic. I am a governor and our Head is stressed to the max about Ofsted coming this Spring. It's really sad to see when she and others in the school are doing everything they can to provide the best school experience for our kids on a shoe string budget.

I hear your pain about grammar/comp system. We are about to go through it with my DS, but would much rather a non selective system. I feel so sad all his friends will end up at different schools, we have single sex comprehensives here ☹️

I guess you could move but we have chosen not to. It's 5 years of his life and feel strongly that the place we live is more important.

Very many schools have been downgraded over the past year, including grammars and previously outstanding academies. Ofsted has a new no holds barred approach, it appears. Here’s just one of many reports:

schoolsweek.co.uk/grammar-schools-ratings-topple-as-new-ofsted-regime-bites

Your local high/comprehensive school should be fine for your DC and will be working very hard in the areas that require improvement.

DD is in a RI school too - she’s doing great.

Behaviour in secondary schools is pretty much pot luck wherever you go. My colleagues' children at grammars are not unaffected either and are impacted by bullying on the bus, and in one particularly pressured school, a lot of MH difficulties with things like eating disorders and self harm almost normalised.

The best thing you can do is engage with the school your DC go to, have active dialogue and feedback, support your DC to do their best and to take the opportunities available, be prepared to provide back up in terms of tutoring, extra curriculars, reading materials, cultural enrichment yourselves.

If it's the only school near you, then this is to your benefit. By necessity it will have a range of dc from a range of backgrounds. There will be plenty of DC like yours with parents who feel as you do.

My dc attends a school that required improvement at the last ofsted. Over 80% of children achieved grade 4+ in GCSE this summer. Don't look at the ofsted report, (schools have told us that sometimes inspectors have agendas) look at results and progress 8.

A remote family member moved to a grammar school area felt very pleased with themselves then her eldest didn’t get in…in
privAte now

The school is not a comprehensive if you are in a grammar area. It's what used to be called a secondary modern.

I agree with others that you should go and look at the school and decide for yourself. A poorer Ofsted rating can often cause schools to make massive improvements. I'd actually view it more positively than a school that was rated as Outstanding 6 years ago and is resting on its laurels.

That said, I agree the grammar system is only good for the children that can get into grammar school without any problems. Which is the minority.

We have genuine comprehensives here as it's not a grammar school system, just that there are grammars available in the county. Whilst I don't like them at all, it does reduce their impact as many many people just don't bother with the 11+ meaning that too sets do have v able dc in.

Living in an all- grammar county must be hell. Really stupid system that the tax payer funds ..

This is awful, and down to poor management.

If your child ends up in a form with lots of messing around, don't accept it, complain (politely) every day their education is disrupted.

At least, you should be able to get your child moved into a form with less mucking about, and at best, if enough parents do this, the management should get their finger out and impose an effective discipline policy.

They should do that anyway, of course, but we all know some school management dont