To not give a fuck about schools?

[sensuallettuce]

AIBU to be totally hacked off with this subject every bloody year.

I don't care that Saffron didn't get into your first choice school even though the local school is varie good she just isn't "suited" to that "environment" all the council estate kids .

It's such thinly veiled snobbery and competitive parenting at its very worst. Kids should go to the local school end of and if there is a grammar system state educated kids should be permitted to take the entrance exam (not privately educated kids who are trained to pass an exam) and this should be means tested.

I live in one of the most competitive school areas of the country with a massive social divide (Poole in Dorset). Because of this I ended up with all 3 kids at 3 different schools for 3 yrs .

How can people bang on about the state providing a perfectly good education then spend an extra £50,000 on a house in the "right" area. It's hypocritical snobby bollocks.

Kids will learn if they want to. I do not believe any of them have faired any better or worse due to my non choice of school. They are fulfilling who they are.

They have a loving home and are well balanced grounded kids and they know if I believe they have been "wronged" I am behind them 100%, if they have done "wrong" I am behind the school. I a, supportive of and interested in their education.

We all need to bloody calm down about this seriously

OP in what way is Poole massively divided socially? And what prompts you to say that Poole is one of the most competitive school areas in England? What numbers and statistics do you draw that conclusion from?

I'm completely lost on your comment that if there is a grammar system then state educated kids should be able to take the test but it should be means tested? That completely confounds the notion of the grammar school system as a meritocracy. Sorry, but it's rubbish, complete rubbish.

The individual parents can achieve bugger all, the PTA at my children's school raises thousands and thousands every year but could they influence any of the schools policies or outcomes for the children, I don't think so. You sometimes wonder if even the head teacher can do that.

Isn't it slightly more likely that you could influence things as a parent by becoming a parent governor, than by volunteering with the PTA, though I think those community activities such as organising the school fete are very valuable too.
But I'm not sure people are very clear about the different ways in which they can become involved in their children's school life.
At my DCs school most parent governors seem to be men so we need women's voices there too !

what about if they try the local school for a year and it doesn't work out?

I am a middle class Hackney girl and had lots of friends go to the nearest school. Some thrived. Some lasted less than a year before their parents hauled them out and either moved or went private. The intentions had been there but the schools were just shit and made the children miserable.

btw I want to hackney and camden schools, and I went to the 'good' ones. No way in hell am I going to send my children to inner city schools. So I will not live in those areas. I can see how you would see this as snobby.

But what about those families who happen to live in average areas. Like I want to. Is that snobby?

3 different kids at 3 different schools for three years - no wonder you're annoyed! and because of this, no, yanbu!

When did you attend those schools ethelb? Do you still live in Hackney?

In Poole we have Sandbanks which is one of the most expensive places in the country propertywise (I think maybe in the world?!)and then we have massive council estates full of settled travellers 3 miles down the road.

www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/9494568.St_Aldhelm___s_Academy_named_worst_school_in_GCSE_league_tables/

It's this "let's get the fuck out of here I'm alright jack" attitude which fucjes me off.
Why are you so interested in what other people do OP?
Your concern is your DC.
My DC won't be going to the local school because I taught there for 10 years. A combination of poor management and a significant minority of disruptive children whose parents don't give a damn make it very difficult for the rest.
I have taught in 3 other schools and none have the same problems.
So, tell me why I should send my DC there ("end of") OP?

I love the thread title: "Not to give a fuck about schools" When OP in fact has SUPER strong views on schools in partic what others should do. SOcial engineering much?

"ikds should go to the local school end of "

our local secondary school is the worst in the whole LEA

there is a police car outside it more often than not.

parents talk of low standards and an intimidating atmosphere.

it was a little like that when i was there, but got much better results. I hated the place.

but i should still send my kids there even knowing they might have as much of a shit experience as I did?

YABU. Forcing kids to go to the local school is basically selection based on parental income. The catchment for my local school exactly circles the council estate, seriously it actually wobbles in and out of streets to cover the poor area, and kids in private housing from closer go to a different school. It is obvious, unashamed class discrimination. Incidentally the local school also doesn't offer a normal range of qualifications- you can only do one science GCSE/higher for example, whereas most schools offer all 4. It's a training academy for mcjobs, deliberately created that way by the council to ghettoise the council estate kids. If you're saying people should be forced to send their children there, you are saying that you think that all children who have low-income parents should not be allowed to succeed academically, because the school just doesn't offer that option. Sorry to burst your privileged bubble though.

Erm - the "council estate kids" are being forced to go there?

This is the first year I have been anxious about a school place.

DC4 is due to go in September.
Our borough is short of thousands of primary school places.

I needed to get him in to a certain school to enable me to wait with DC3 at his transport pick up, drop DC4 off at school and then DC5 off at nursery then get to work.

If he didnt get in I would have been in trouble. He got in - phew.

When I look at a school's ofsted I dont pay a great deal of attention to the academic stuff. I look for the comments about the ethos and the feel of the school.

My DC3 went to a highly rated mainstream school before we moved him. It was a horrible, cold and uncaring place and I couldnt wait to get him out!

ladyHarriet Ditto!
OP seems very bothered about what school others send their DC to.
I always think that if a person is convinced that their choice is right, they don't notice/ care what others are doing.

someone living opposite the school managed to get one of hers into a girls school (one requiring baptism) and by refusing the place at the catchment school got her son into a boys school

of course it would be better if the school wasn't shit, but if that's the situation you are presented with, i don't see virtue in sending my kids to suffer for my principles.

Ok, here's my list of don't touch school types:
Sports colleges
Schools with a great range of vocational subjects.
Schools that like to re-brand every few years ( name, uniform etc)
Schools always advertising in TES with teacher vacancies
Schools with websites that haven't been updated since 2007.

So shoot me.

Ok I admit that I do give a fuck.

I am happy (now) with where my kids go to school. The three years I had all three at different schools ith a 10 mile round trip school run as a working single mum wasn't so great.

So sick of spending years listening to (mostly) middle class twits bang on and on about this yet they create the hysteria and the divide.

I feel really sad that kids who live in the crap areas with the crap schools are getting stuck in a loop and they kick back at that and fuck up their own chances. Maybe if there was a good "social" mix in all schools there would be a level playing field, and we as parents have a social responsibility to ensure this and stop being so selfish.

My views are not shared by everyone I accept that but they are my views.

This is a situation where it absolutely matters what other people are doing. If other people stopped opting out of their local school/ state system then there would not be anything like the segregation that there is now.

WTF though, you're sending your kid to a grammar school, so this is all total hypocrisy. Not everywhere has grammar schools (actually it think they should- the only reason grammar schools were stopped was that posh families got upset that their children were too thick to pass the 11plus, and academic ability is a much better selection method than parental income). There is no way I would send my kids to private school even if I had the money, but there is equally no way I will send them to a school that doesn't offer basic educational qualifications because they think all poor kids should aspire to be hairdressers.

Why do you blame middle class parents for the divide?

Why wouldn't you blame the schools themselves, or the parents that are already there for not trying to improve standards?

I see where you are coming from and obviously there is a problem, but I don't understand how you can choose to blame parents for choosing not to use low achieving schools for creating the problem. They are just doing the best they can for their children.

Why can I not send my child to Grammar? It's an option available to me and he passed the exam?

My other children go to the local secondary school.

The people I went to school with who became hairdressers are all living in the £400k houses bought for £1.50 in 1992, almost mortgage free, children have grown up and are living the dream. Don't knock hairdressing.

Because only middle class parents have the option of moving.

Working classes cannot afford the prices esp if in social housing.

The fact is nobody would object to all the schools being marvellous.