Thread 1 Starmer: A New Hope

[DuncinToffee]

Please tread lightly on our dreams.

Previous thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5112428-thread-55-sunak-gives-up

I doubt he will turn his attention to grammar schools at least in the near future. It's the VAT he wants from independent schools, he's not making any objection to their existence.

Thank you for the new thread, no pets here but enjoying the cats!

Thanks for the new thread. Perdy says everything suddenly feels cleaner.

I wasn't suggesting he turn attention to grammar schools, which are in every region of England bar the North East. I was just surprised that there weren't more in his cabinet, partly because that was the schooling he experienced (which seems to be influential to most PMs).

I've watched his speech now, thank you for the link, and agree it is refreshing to get actual answers to what was asked rather than a "Squirrel!" answer.

@fabio12, sorry but you’re wrong. There are huge swathes of England, apart from the NE, with no grammar schools. There aren’t more in the Cabinet because so few people have access to them. And I don’t imagine Starmer cares either way.

https://comprehensivefuture.org.uk/interactive-map-of-grammar-schools/

No state grammars in the East of England- Beds, Northants, Cambs, Suffolk, Norfolk , Herts. Bucks is a grammar school county. None in Notts either . Lincolnshire has grammars. I'm not aware of any in Yorkshire either.

The MN fixation with grammars seems so odd to so many. I had never heard the phrase super selective till MN.

Can confirm - the only 'grammar' school near me is in Thetford, and it's fee paying.

I stand corrected - I did a google and found Wiki which said only region was NE as here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_grammar_schools_in_England

I didn't realise it was such a tetchy subject in all honesty. I'll stay away from it in future.

Sorry, not being snippy! It really is a very MN lens...that's why when Theresa May started banging on about grammar schools, most people were baffled!

We have the treat of two super selectives. They have no catchment meaning people can apply from anywhere in the country. There are more dc who bus and train in than live near enough to walk.
I think they cover four counties although it may be more.

The first thing that link says is that there are only 163 grammars. Doesn’t need much thought to realise that means the vast majority can’t access them - I used to teach in the West Mids. There are occasional selective schools but it’s not a culture. Most schools are genuine comprehensives losing nobody to a ‘grammar’. It’s really not a system where everyone in the area does 11+.

I didn’t mean to be tetchy. Too much fact correcting needed on GE threads and it’s become habitual!

Lovely day.

My stray that moved himself in is really relaxed about it all

He obviously had you well sussed! He is lovely and so are you for giving him a home ❤️

And to top off a great weekend England win.

I was as nervous watching that as waking up 5th July 😂

And I'm not really a football fan!

I had to go and hide in the kitchen when they were doing the penalty shoot-out!

Maybe the same charm that won us Eurovision in 1997 will work for the Euros ?

🤞

England won the Euros 31 July 2022. Well done those women 💪 x

I'm welsh and had Switzerland in the sweepstake, so meh.

I wanted the final to be France v Spain and I'm from Northern Ireland, duel passport so Irish. I absolutely understand your meh @L1ttledrummergirl

I'm still waiting to see how my guys do against Turkey. If they win and play as well as they did against Romania, the English are in trouble.

Frankly, we've been in trouble for most of the time in most of our matches! How we've got this far ...

... although DH now reckons we can win