How can state school parents try & bridge the educational gap that's rapidly forming?

[Kenthighst]

Following on from the excellent thread regarding the shambles of state education. What can us parents do to bridge the gap? Our state school children are being failed & we are being kept in the dark.
What can be done outside school to bridge the gap that has formed between state & private?

For primary age -

• limit screen time
• reading. Read to them, get them reading
• get them doing chores. Although not directly linked with attainment, it does encourage a good work ethic and builds confidence.
• take them out to explore places and engage them wherever they are. Find info in museums and galleries, identify local wildlife and trees and so on.
• do the homework school sets. As well as learning, it gets them used to homework.

For secondary age, what's working for us
-tutors. There's no way around this as dc have gaps in their knowledge and teachers keep leaving.

• finding resources for all their subjects. Thankfully almost every subject seems to have a reputable YouTuber
• keep dcs reading. I've always encouraged dc to keep reading and treat it like homework. The gap in those who read and those who don't is massive. If dcs can write an eloquent email, know the difference between there, theyre and their and have a good vocabulary, they'll have a competitive edge.

Yes @noblegiraffe

Also, this is obviously from a million moons ago, but I was great at maths at school and a self starter. Went to a not amazing comp that had two great maths teachers, one of whom I was lucky to have for GCSE and who always gave me an extension task (from a book, not something that she used any teaching time on, as she had to help others - I did also help the boy who sat next to me, too) if I wanted it. When I switched to a grammar sixth form, I realised I was well ahead of where I should be for A level syllabus, at least for the first couple of terms of pure.

Because I could teach myself quite effectively from a book I also taught myself 2 GCSEs, which didn't have a good teacher where the lessons were barely even about crowd control so that I got good exam results. Just using CGP revision guide and past papers. Lots of my classmates didn't. They needed a teacher. So they underachieved.

In every school there will be some kids who can teach themselves very well from books and pass everything with minimal adult input if need be. Doesn't mean that because some do this should be the standard for all kids. Also, it was still shit for me to be in that environment so I moved to a new school for sixth form.

Remember education when you vote.

I'm a secondary teacher.

Give your children new experiences, whatever their age.

Everything helps - from them learning how to cook (measuring and conversion skills, precision, timekeeping, dexterity), how to garden (lots of scientific skills and knowledge involved), navigation in unfamiliar places (which can include map reading, communication, problem solving skills), building furniture together (spatial awareness, some basic Physics, interpretation of diagrams - IKEA flat pack furniture is great fun for this!)...

If you can afford to take them abroad, let them practise language skills. Even a botched question about bread in French will help them. And let them experience the culture.

There are thousands of simple things you can do with your kids of all ages, which help them develop not only academic but also soft skills.

And yes, reading! It doesn't matter what they read - my older one is into novels they see me read (fantasy and sci-fi-based stuff, mostly) whereas my younger one will either read non-fiction or mangas. Each new book will build vocabulary and expand horizons.

Gaming also has its place - it develops patience, problem-solving skills, quick thinking and a general ability to navigate the digital world. It can even be social. Just don't make it their only interest.

CarrieCardigan
A friend of mine (not SE) said something similar. When they looked for school options they found that a local private school was as much, or slightly less, than what they'd been paying for childcare in nursery fees.
Anyone who'd been paying full time nursery would have been able to afford private education. They might choose not to if they're happy with the local option/didn't think it was worth it but it wouldn't have been completely out of reach for a lot of people financially.

It certainly opened my mind. I'd previously made some assumptions that were wrong.

Anyone who'd been paying full time nursery would have been able to afford private education.

It’s one thing paying nursery fees for a few yrs & another to commit to private school particularly with more than one child.

Also someone mentioned tutoring in state schools it’s also very normal to tutor in private’s.

Well quite, especially if you’re paying nursery partly from savings.

Fees also go up as they go up the years and extra VAT will make this more out of reach

I know people say vote, ie Labour presumably but I can’t see what the policy will do other than remove private as an option for some. It won’t raise anything much to improve state

To add most talk of tutors for us has been in the private sector, we didn’t use them though.

I agree. All schools in our area have a progress 8 score that is below average or well below average and only around 50% passes in English and maths. For grade 5s and above this drops to 30 percent.

Thinking about those parents saying ‘my kid has had a great time at a state school’, well I’ve got a really good NHS dentist but I wouldn’t go onto threads about the state of NHS dentistry and suggest it’s not that bad really when I know so many people are struggling to even find a dentist.

That’s an amazing effort, well done for trying to raise awareness.

It’s dispiriting, isn’t it, when you start out thinking that people just don’t know about the problems, then that they just don’t understand the impact, and then finally the realisation that they just don’t care.

The refusal to look at amending exam grades for those affected is particularly harsh. But I suspect they know it would open the flood gates to other claims by children who have suffered disruption to schooling for various reasons.

https://news.sky.com/story/amp/concrete-crisis-calls-to-increase-exam-grades-at-schools-worst-hit-by-raac-13050985

@noblegiraffe “Thinking about those parents saying ‘my kid has had a great time at a state school’, well I’ve got a really good NHS dentist but I wouldn’t go onto threads about the state of NHS dentistry and suggest it’s not that bad really when I know so many people are struggling to even find a dentist.”

There is most likely a link there. The type of person who managed to get on an NHS dentist list years ago and stay there and kept going regularly and took their DC regularly so as not to drop off it (and actually understands that regular application of fluoride and not allowing sugar/sugary drinks will make for long term tooth health), is probably the exact same type of person who made sure their DC got into good schools at 11. By moving, renting, tutoring whatever it takes.

I also had a GP surgery that went sour so I did some research locally and moved all 6 of us. Could not be happier. I reckon many people do not realise that it is easy to move.

I also change my home insurance pretty much every year, car insurance etc name it. All this stuff takes time and intelligence. However, it should not have to be such hard work! We live in a society now where you are a consumer of all of this type of stuff and need to understand it so a basic amount of educational literacy, financial literacy and health literacy goes a very long way. Privileged persons are taught this from infancy by their parents aka how to navigate the system. Those that do not know or understand are the ones struggling. Most likely the same applies in education. Those of us who spot quickly that the Physics teacher is gone and plug the gaps, those DCs are fine in the long run.

One of mine did really well- compliment ambitious child and very well educated parents who'd bought every study guide going - filling in gaps and spending a lot of time with them before exams.

School seemed to want to find fault with minor shit before exams - so despite some really good teachers many who left before next child started GCSE literally year after that school finished - we all feel they did well despite the school not because of it.

Eldest was not such a child - and I think would have done much better in a different school - and I worry youngest is very similar - but we'll see.

If we'd been earning so much more when we first moved here we could have got the best state school in city by being able to buy in that catchment area - and everything would have been easier. It's why I get fed up with private vs state arguments in politics when there is such huge disparity between state schools even in small geographical area mostly based on house prices and everyone seems fine with that.

I do think schools vary and agree with earlier pp that said go for area, where I question is on tutors as there’s been a few times where they’ve come up and I’m glad I didn’t

Also to reassure some that if your dc get the necessary A / A star grades in FM for example it’s unlikely they will feel disadvantaged at university purely due to state ime

I would actually welcome political focus on education I just don’t think VAT is the answer, and will likely exacerbate some competitive elements of state whilst not improving much for others

I’d prefer something around lower class sizes which should not be impossible given falling rolls

Even kids within the same school will be having very different experiences.

My maths A-level kids for example will be getting a great deal. But if they were doing computing they wouldn’t have a teacher and would be teaching themselves.
Agree with this.
One year I had a class being taught GCSE by me, an experienced subject specialist, and the class down the corridor was taught a lot by non-specialist cover supervisors with me providing support to that member of staff.
There's no doubt the two classes were having very different experiences.

But are they getting those results due to massive parental input at home & tutoring?

I think there are not ‘many’ across the country but concentrated in the London and SE (grammar school) areas.

London schools too I believe also have some highly motivated children of motivated migrant families.

Sorry that was a response to:
BungleandGeorge · Yesterday 21:47
There’s many state school pupils getting results on par with private, the situation isn’t quite as dire as you make out

I can tell you that all the children that I know all had tutoring for the 11+ there were even some cultural groups that had their own spin off mock test arrangements for 11+ and shared info about it and then getting tutor groups or individual tutor for 11+ is massive racket round where I am, which is not London/home counties.

I agree with this. In my dc's classes (primary) they have friends & classmates with Russian, Ukranian, Polish, Chinese & Nigerian parents. All & I mean all are very hands on & not afraid to question anything they are unsure of! They are great advocates for their kids & often for the class as a whole. They're great!

I also had a GP surgery that went sour so I did some research locally and moved all 6 of us. Could not be happier. I reckon many people do not realise that it is easy to move.

Previous area we lived in shortage of GP even pre -covid I had to fight to get on local GP list and not get re-directed with no car to one we'd struggle to get to given how far away it was. Moving when they weren't great wasn't going to work - better working out to game to get the better GP or try a locum than be without entirely.

Last place we live took writing to all dentists but found one taking on NHS - moved here there are no NHS dentist at all in entire city - and I contacted them all and people in charge of making sure there were multipole times. My persistence did pay of got kids taken on as NHS - but we have to be private which was more of a win than many living here got.

If we live in IL area NHS dentists are only now an issue - GP practises are still easy to swap. Resources aren't disrupted evenly or the same quality,

It like schools given resources it's sort of a win - my eldest got to Uni but took more effort from her and us to get her there.

I know someone who has nieces and nephews in best state school in city - she said a lot the stuff they did as parents like D of E though guides and orchestrates paying for ones in nearby town with driving round that entails - was just there and kids just signed up for and it was so much easier for kids and parents to take part. She said time and effort and money it took to replicate that for her kids - who went to same school as mine which had nothing - was just huge.

That's another way - the local guide pack did very little extra - but the wider national organisation she found gave her DD wider opportunities. Didn't work so much for mine due to us not driving and covid - but she used it and was surprised more parents weren't aware of all the opportunities.

You are very right there.

It's recently been flagged that my son (10) likely has dyslexia and/or dyspraxia. We have the misfortune of living under one of the worst funded LEAs in the country. The school are unable to refer for assessment - parents must take on the entirety of the arrangement and costs of this ourselves.

The dyslexia testing entails a 6-month wait as it's done by an under-resourced charity with few experts conducting minimal appointments. This is at a cost of £300 including a full report (which of course is needed in order to secure a diagnosis).

The dyspraxia testing can diagnose 3 criteria - the fourth must be done by a medical professional - by an appropriately qualified occupational therapist. This, including the report, costs £650.

That's nearly £1k just to secure a diagnosis, if relevant. It's criminal. It would also seem to me that this is disability discrimination. That's something I am looking into (I suspect fruitlessly, or they wouldn't be getting away with doing it).

We are in a cost of living crisis. We are fortunate and can afford these costs - not everyone can when they have to prioritise eating, heating and paying the mortgage. How many children are being failed by this despicably, shamefully unfair system?

For the first time in my life I'll be writing to my MP about this. I'm still quite upset, this issue being new to us as it's only been flagged 3 weeks or so ago. But I don't want my son struggling unnecessarily - his teachers all tell us he's incredibly intelligent and articulate but is being let down because his verbal ability clearly isn't translating to paper - and will pull out every stop possible and fight for him to ensure he gets the support he needs.

I wonder if anyone else has experienced anything similar. I admit nothing much shocks me about the state of education today - I'm University lecturer and have daily experience of it - but when it comes to primary education and educational psychology I know as little as the next parent.

It's simply not good enough, is it?

@EasternStandard ,

A lot more money needs to go into state education (and health) and it has to come from somewhere.

You really can’t tax the poor any more, as they can’t make ends meet, so you have to go after the wealthy, either via consumption taxes or income taxes. Most prefer to be taxed on consumption as , to some extent, at least you can choose it.

Now, I believe the IFS in that VAT on private school fees will raise about £1.3 bio to £1.5 bio, about a 2% contribution to state schools. This would reduce give them back have of what was stolen when they were asked to fund the teachers’ pay rises, clearly not nearly sufficient, but a contribution.

Now, maybe you would prefer a progressive tax on property or to go back to 50% on the highest tax rate (which would spare the poorer who sacrifice to send their children private), but I suspect you would get the same type of threads bemoaning how unfair it is.

There are arguments to just tax the richer, rather than targeting a tax on private school parents but, ultimately, it is mostly the same people who will pay more.

No one likes pay rises but, ultimately, if we cannot educate ALL our children to a sufficient level and keep people healthy to work (and pay tax), we will just go into a downward spiral (which we already seem to be in) and this will hit the futures of even wealthiest families’ children and grandchildren, unless they want to live in gated communities with private security guards like in SA or Colombia.

Ugh, lots of autocorrect typos!

’half of what was stolen’

’no one likes tax rises’-they definitely do like pay rises!