To feel we are all a little bit too obsessed with education and school?

[TheOddity]

I've seen threads recently about people remortgaging their house for private education, teachers publicly shamed in front of their peers for results beyond their control, people moving house to be nearer a good nursery, and on and on.
I recently moved to another country in Europe. I asked my new neighbour what the local nursery was like as that's where we intended to send our son. They said "it's very close and convenient". My spidey senses were tingling, did this mean it was a failing nursery? Next I go to the first parents' meeting. Not a word was spoken about targets, the curriculum etc. it was all about food and naps. In the end section for questions, the questions parents asked were about.....food and naps! He is there now for half a year, it's fine, And hopefully sometimes he is learning. There is one secondary school nearby so everyone goes there and again, it's fine. I am not overly worried my son will fail, because he is bright and I will help him.
I just think, are we all insane in the UK? Is it worth the stress? At the end of the day, if you are worried enough about them to remortgage your house, surely you could just do a bit of homework with them each night and it will all turn out ok? AIBU to think that school is all a bit out of proportion and life is pretty unpredictable unless your parents already own a fortune?

I agree we are obsessed. All schools should be good enough and most are nowadays. You dont need to pay. Friends who have paid find their children are just as likely to flunk exams due to disinterest. The stories in this thread about poor schools seem to be mostly dating back to the 70s. I sent mine to a primary which was considered a dump by middle class locally but I liked the school ethos of valuing every child whatever their home circumstances and their ability. At secondary comp the teaching is arranged nowadays so that every child has the opportunity to work to their potential. They work out the potential of each child using statistics and huge databases, so they know who to push.

DD's is also a private school (Gdst)- in the middle of top 100 girls schools ( with a very mixed rural Intake) so I sort of assumed they knew what they're talking about.However we have 2 state Sixth form colleges either side of us and one is recommending 4 and one 3.
Don't Universities base their offers on 3 A levels?
Its really worrying that schools are all offering different advice.

DD is currently doing 5 AS
She is planning to drop down to 3 subjects at A2 rather than her planned 4
on the basis that three really good grades are better than four mediocre ones.

She has been looking at courses and even the most demanding only request 3 extremely good A Levels

The subject that would have been the 4th A level she is sad to drop but the course has not worked for her.

Yes, universities usually base offers on three a levels. However my daughter's first and second choice haven't specified what she must get in which subject, so if she gets the three specified grades in any three of the four she's doing (and I'm not convinced of the wisdom of her not dropping one after AS, but she didn't want to) she's fine and she has four in which to get the grades, iyswim.

I didn't know schools were moving to only 3 ASs as my next child is only just done choosing GCSE options. When we were looking at sixth forms two years ago, we didn't see any that weren't doing the model of four AS and then 3 or 4 A2. Or IB.

I think that's as good a plan as any nit.

If her offers include a dreaded A* they're just so easy to miss, especially in humanities, that your DD might be giving herself the best chance (iyswim).

As for what's going to happen next ; it depends on the school.

DS school is continuing with four A/pre u. AS levels still to be taken ( where appropriate).

But a local comp and private girls school are ditching the AS.

Yes, she does need a* for first choice ... But 2nd has a lot going for it, which I'm stressing at tactical intervals!

I do wish A* offers would disappear!

Yes!

Wordfactory
The trouble is that in certain subjects, A* = 25% of the candidates ...
A/A* = 50% of candidates
I cannot see top200 unis settling for above average in the subject

Lord is that right talkin?

My issue with A * s in humanities ( I know little of STEM) is that there really should be no right answer IYSWM. Yet, marking can get decidedly conservative the higher the mark.

Thus students attempting an A* are likely to be less ambitious.

Chemistry
Physics nearly as bad
Maths pretty high too ....

When there is a right answer its blerdy hard to differentiate while still staying inside the curriculum

Good lord

Which subjects talkin do you know?

Ouch!

Slaps head - those numbers were the GCSE ...

In the Chemistry A level its only 33% getting A/A*
www.jcq.org.uk/examination-results/a-levels
and 60% getting B or above

Physics is 31% A/A* at A level

Bearing in mind that those two A levels are perceived as the pretty monster STEM ones, top level differentiation is a humungous problem

(English is only 21% A*/A by comparison)

Do you know the numbers for A at A level talkin *? I'm not somewhere I can look stuff up.

that link in my post .... top PDF is the full data set :-)

Thanks talkin

You know me rufus I love relying on other people's data sets .....