To ask those who escaped a dire secondary modern school education and achieved a degree or higher to put their hands up.

[sandyholme]

I left a dire 1980s secondary modern school with only 3 GCSEs all lower than C grades yet i have managed finally to gain a Degree with the Open University!

I am therefore wondering how many Mumsnetters also achieved in education despite being deemed a failure at 11 and having numerous barriers shoved in their way in the process .

I feel a bit of a 'fraud' though because i sought out the very schools that barred me to educate my children ( that is because they are the best schools available and thats just the way the system works where i live)

I guess though i am hoping to hear of other people who bucked the system, despite being ordained down a non academic path at 11

Well done OP.

My uncle went to a secondary modern after moving to this country too late to sit the 11 plus. He went to a secondary modern which didn't offer O-levels. After leaving at 16 he got good O and then A-Levels at night school while working full time. He then went on to have a very successful and well paid career (these days would need at least a BSc to enter).

Some people are just late developers. A friend of mine was written off by her comp and got ok but not good GCSEs. She went on to get a degree with a first and a PGCE. She now has a very successful career in education.

Bizarrely, if it all comes good, this ends up being better than the usual route.
Example 1 - great school, great results, uni at 18, no idea what to study, end up wasting degree
Example 2 - shit results, work, grow up and realise what you actually want to study, worthwhile degree

my other half left school with 1 O level in maths, was in bottom stream(undiagnosed dyslexia) went to work sent to college , went on to get a Degree in engineering 1st, Masters and PHD then PGCHE and now lectures at university, so yes it is possible to do as an adult what you didnt get the oppurtunity to do at school

My brother went to the local secondary modern/comprehensive with Marcus Wareing (tbh can't remember if he did the 11+ as it was around the time they abolished it). Anyway, him and Marcus seem to have done ok - arguably Marcus did a bit better .

I went to a comprehensive school in a town with four grammar schools, so not technically a secondary modern, but in no way properly comprehensive. I didn't take the 11+ as my mum is passionately opposed to selection. I did however have an excellent education, got 9 O levels and 3 A levels all grade A, and subsequently two degrees (one with the OU, which was fab) and a PhD. I am actually pretty proud of my mum for having the courage of her convictions. Although I may well not have actually passed the 11+ of course!!

I remember being described by one of my teachers as being a "slightly above average pupil". now that is one passive aggressive compliment.

I graduated with a 2:2 from the OU at age 30. Would have been a decent 2:2 but some idiot thought that it would be a good idea to have a baby mid course thinking that babies sleep a lot and so I would have LOADS of time to study, only DD had other ideas!

I now have a post grad qualification and have been working in my field for some years now. I found it very difficult initially but I'm getting there. Biggest problem is my confidence. I still feel like a fraud and imposter, like I don't deserve to be in a profession.

Yep went to a really shit secondary, this was the 90s and boys carried knives, half of our GCSE class were arrested on a field trip. Someone brought a rifle to school once. Bullying and assaults were common place. One child in our form had a habit of head butting the wall repeatedly. Law degree from red brick uni and two professional qualifications. But no confidence in abilities.

I failed my 11+, got mediocre GCSE and A Level results. Somehow I got into University and this is when I really excelled. I now have a PhD!

It means though I am now surrounded by stuffy Grammar school educated types but my work ethic and drive far exceeds them.

My dad went to the worst school in his area, a secondary modern. Dismally failed 11 plus and had very little hope of escaping the poverty he was born into.

Aged 16 he did CSE and did okay. It was at this point a teacher noticed that he was actually bright and recommended he did A levels and a degree.

He worked rwally hard and went to uni, at a time when it was rrally difficult. He got the highest first the uni had ever seen. Not sure if his record still stands. He had an amazing career off the back of it though.

From him I learnt don't let the bastards get you down.

I left school at 16 with a handful of o levels. I got a good job with a good company. They educated me, not school.

I now have a postgraduate degree in HRM

Sorry meant to say that it's probably much easier to do it when you're not having to work full time though 😀

This thread has really inspired me! Thank OP for starting it. My own story is not dissimilar to many I've read here. I went to a rough, failing Sec Mod in 1975. came out in 1980 with one O level and a handful of CSEs. I did go on to do A levels at the local grammar but came out with bad grades despite working hard (just too much missing from my basic education I think). Had a reasonably fulfilling career though before I married and had children. Long story short, when my DDs were young, I was a SAHM and bored. I'd recently started to teach myself piano (following buying a keyboard for DD1 who had started piano lessons aged 7) and I eventually enrolled in an Access course in music. This led to a degree, where I narrowly missed a First. Graduated in 2013 and worked in a part-time (badly-paid!) office role for nearly two years. My last day in the role was yesterday! Have accepted an offer to study for a Music Master's at my local uni! I start in Sept. Hugely anxious about this but cannot believe how far I've come. Well done to all who've achieved despite the odds. Hugely demonstrative of the resilience and tenacity of the human spirit.

I failed my 12+ and went to a dire secondary modern. Heavy bullying, some poor teaching and I thought I was really stupid already from the age of 5 anyway - parenting . We were only allowed to take 5 'O' levels and the rest CSE's. I was advised to double enter everything. So I sat my CSE's first. Then my father died and a few days later, I started sitting my 'O' levels. What an appalling waste of my energy to be sitting my CSE exams knowing that my father was sitting at home dying - I got 5 grade B/C 'O' levels, 3 CSE grade 1. I then went on to a high school to do my 'A' levels depressed and with PTSD. I was made to feel very inferior by some of the teachers and the result was that I failed one of my 'A's and got a D and an E in the other two.

I managed to go to Polytechnic, which changed to Uni shortly thereafter. I got a 2:2. Within a couple of days of getting the results, my lecturer came up to my friend and me explaining that someone had missed out on a 2:1 by a hairs breath. I genuinely thought he was talking about her - how could he be talking about thick is old me? When I got the results, I was astounded at how close I had been to getting a 2:1. I got these results despite finally getting counselling for PTSD and hardly attending any lectures because I was so depressed. Imagine what I could have got had I been more self assured.

I have done lots with my life and now, very ill with chronic fatigue I can't work, so now that my health is improving, I've recently started buying up properties, doing them up and selling them on - project no 2 is sold etc and the profit will pay for my private health care. I've met so many people, who value me for me and respect me for who I am and what I can do. It is such a shame the 1970's/80's education was such a failure.

I left school with 2 GCE's and a couple of CSE's, I honestly can't remember what they were in though, lol. I was always far more interested in my sport than learning and I was painfully shy. I did something great during the next year which gave me confidence to do something with my life, I got an American high school diploma and went on to university, where I got a degree.

Incidentally, I rewrote my cv yesterday and removed all education prior to university as it was getting too long and by my age no one cares what I did before 18.

Me.

I left school with six GCSEs - two As, two Bs, three Cs and an E in Maths.

An utterly dire excuse for an education - the only thing I learned at school which has been of any use is a) developing a smart mouth to deal with dickheads and b) typing.

I blossomed at sixth form and came out with A level grades AAB, but sadly due to lack of confidence and parental nous went to a shitty uni.

Still, got a 2:1 and a PGCE.

Autodidact here. Would love to do it all again properly.

That's hilarious - the numbers don't add up, do they?

That explains the E in Maths

7 GCSEs that should be

I had appalling secondary education and left with 3 poor cse's
A few crappy jobs then I did an OU degree whilst working
After that I did another professional degree

I went to a local comp. 6 O levels, 2 grade 1 CSEs, 2 A levels (B and D). I then began nursing training, which I did not complete despite it being my childhood ambition. I worked in various customer service roles, and 6 years after leaving school began an OU degree, which I completed in four years. After having 2 kids, I did a PGCE and began a career as a primary teacher. During my first year of teaching, I did a Mensa supervised IQ test and found that I have an IQ of 154.

Since then, I have also completed a Masters in Education and am just finishing my dissertation for a second MA in Special and Inclusive Education. I don't think my education did me any favours, but I know how to work hard and still get a thrill out of studying. Can't rule out doing a doctorate one day!

Nqjy and others. My husband left school with a few o levels, and was told he was not to go to uni by his family as he was needed in family business (which failed). At 40 I encouraged him to do a hnd. Now after 5 years has a 1st degree and the world is his oyster x