To think DD can get top grades in an 'average' comp. secondary?

[HotCaterpillar]

Dd has done well at primary, near top of class academically and is well behaved and conscientious.

I've moved area and she's due to start secondary in an averagely performing comp. in September. Aibu to think she can get top grades in that environment if she continues to apply herself to studying?

She was offered a place in a selective private school but I declined due to the fees, I could probably just about afford them but it felt very expensive when there is a free option. She's done well in state primary. I'm a single parent working FT, we have a good home life.

Either way it’s a lottery IMO. You’ll have to keep an eye on what’s going on.

Plenty of private schools are flogging teachers half to death. My kids are at a private school and my dd has had about 50% of her biology lessons as cover lessons this year. When the teacher turns up, the lessons are great. Otherwise my dd teaches herself whilst a succession of random (non biology) staff cover the class. Obviously some kids are not motivated or savvy enough to teach themselves. But my dd realises that this is GCSE content without which, she will be fucked.

Of course it isn’t ignorant. Statistically, children who go to private schools are twice as likely to get the top grades (7, 8, 9) than their state school counterparts.

How on earth is that ignorant? It’s a fact. It doesn’t mean no one who goes to a state school will get brilliant results, but it isn’t as likely.

@Mammyloveswine

I would NEVER send my child to private school even if I could afford it, I am vehemently against a two tier education system and think private schools are a breeding ground for snobbery and self-entitlement.

I went to the worst comprehensive in my home city..,I got top grades at GCSE then went to the local college and got As and Bs.

do you think you may have a rather different perspective if your experience has been very different? I suspect so

You know that worst comp in my city that you went to and got amazing results.

you saw it as “worst” because presumably most kids got piss poor results.

The thing is, I’ve been teaching a long time, and while there are some unsupportive parents, it’s rare that you meet parents who really don’t give a shit.

Most parents want to support their child’s learning, but it often tapers off regardless. Why is that?

Its too easy to assume that most state secondary schools are crammed full of students who have parents who just don’t care, apart from your child, of course, and a handful of their friends, but it doesn’t make much sense, does it?

And - if you did your GCSEs before 2017, it’s not really comparable anyway. I got an A* in French in 1997, but even I have to concede my French isn’t marvellous.

@Mammyloveswine

Your hellish experience of teaching in the state system…

Since going back in September I am a mess. I have a really challenging class, my new role is double the workload yet still on a part time salary. Assessment arrangements keep changing so I'm constantly playing catch up and I feel so utterly overwhelmed.

I have spoken to my gp who has referred me for counselling but I am waking up vomiting with anxiety every night. My heart is constantly racing, I feel on the edge of tears constantly!

I feel like I'm losing my mind!

I know that I probably need to take some time off but that terrifies me!

I just want to run away ☹️

is practically unheard of as the teaching experience in the private sector

Well I mean I could just look at the privately educated government...

I am opposed to a two tier education system as I think it is so so important that EVERY child receives a top quality education..

I don't agree with how the tories have "reformed" the national curriculum and actually the narrowing of the curriculum and "teach to the test" does not provide a rounded education..

But op asked if her daughter could get top grades and of course she can! Op clearly values education and those values will pass to her daughter.

I think there are probably elements of the new national curriculum that don’t work so well, but I don’t mind the reforms in my subject, I must admit.

Wow, using my post from almost two years ago when I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown...

I actually agree.

my children go private (scholarships) and I am aghast at the difference to state. And appalled.

i don’t think there should be a two tier for anything as important as health and education.

but I am the ultimate hypocrite as my children are privately educated and I pay a fortune for private health care

She can.

and it will be down to her own hard work and effort, rather than mummy and daddy’s millions

There’s more recent.

But that is not the point.

it sounded hellish, truly hellish and that must have impacted your teaching. I don’t see how it couldn’t. And that is NO criticism of you.

That is literally not how it works at all. All students get predicted grades based on their prior attainment data from primary and socio economic information and the thrashers and school are judged by how well that student does against their individual target.

If she works hard and has high FFT data she will do really well.

As for the question the op asks, utterly ridiculous. Does she never read the papers, research schools results??!

Dh went to a pretty crap comp - he was the first kid from there to go to Cambridge...it still hasn't improved much. He did lots of work independently and a teacher at the school who had attended Oxbridge coached him on the application process.

Yes but put those same kids in state school, with all the same money, parental support, extra curricular and experiences, and they'd probably do just as well.

It is not the school they maketh the man but the man that maketh the school.

@Ohthatsexciting you should apologise for that, it was a cheap shot.

@Mammyloveswine is more qualified than anyone else on this thread - her opinion on state schooling comes from a place of professional experience.

My son's secondary just got it's first "Good" Ofsted rating in 63 years. It is a school that has a higher than average number of children with SEN, behavioural difficulties and deprivation.

He is going into year 9 and in on target to get top GCSEs. He is naturally very smart and loves learning. He is proud of his school and if he gets to University, will be much more rounded in the art of real life than many of his privately schooled counterparts.

I will let you know how he gets on.

Aghast and appalled? You need to get out more.

Apologise for what?

her experience of teaching in a state school sounds almost suicidally bad.

you don’t think that it is relevant?

good grief I am not criticising her.

but pointing out the environment is a heck of a lot more conducive to productive and enthusiastic teaching in the private sector than the state.

“Getting put more” not in this heat. Me and kids staying put in the garden 😂

I’m a teacher in the state sector too. But I’m not more qualified, because no one agrees with me

‘tis true though. Start a thread about how bad teaching is, how awful the government is, how poor recruitment and retention is, everyone agrees.

But apparently it makes NO DIFFERENCE to kids performance in exams remarkable really!

Thank you @Minimalme

Good luck to your son! I'm sure he will be amazing!

There are different pressures and different motivations for teachers in each sector.

On balance I think I'd rather my children were taught by individuals who were there because they really felt they wanted to make a difference, rather than someone thinks they've chosen the easy option.