Schools in the UK

[Bobajob02]

I grew up in the UK but live abroad now and my kids are in school over here. Are schools in the UK really as bad as they sound? Isolation, insane school uniform rules, detentions for the slightest misdemeanour. Not being able to take kids out of school during term time. Piled on top of that loads of exam pressure from a young age.

Do kids actually enjoy school in the UK? Is it ok if they are bright and toe the line? What about those who don’t fit the mould? Does this approach improve children’s outcomes (not just academic, but also in terms of well-being)?

Some of the stories are massively exaggerated. There was a rumour that a child had ben suspended for 3 days for just having a phone in her hand at DDs school. They were actually suspended for livestreaming a fight between two other pupils and egging them on.

This is a classic example of how people distant from what’s actually happening get sucked in by all the nonsense talked on the internet and on social media. I’ve had a whole bunch of kids recently go through UK schools and those schools have been fantastic. This reminds me of the Elon Musk and JD Vance effect: talking shit about a country they don’t understand and getting to all arse about face.

Exactly! Our city has 6 anyone can go state secondary schools, several church linked schools and 4 expensive ( £30-£50k) a year private secondary schools. All the state schools are good, but if private parents want to pretend that they had to spend a million quid in sending 2/3 kids to the private schools because state schools are shite and kids all are feral and minding each other then that’s on them.
It’s just not true.
In fact, the only school that has real issues is THE most expensive private on that has a massive drug problem that everyone knows about and is very soon going to hit the press because there’s only so much covering up can be done with PR and expensive lawyers…

My kids (aged 16 to 20) enjoy / enjoyed school. It doesn't seem too strict (they've only had one detention between the three of them so far) and they seem to have really positive relationships with their teachers - better than it was in my day IMO. There is a lot of exam pressure though. That's worse than when I was at school.

Which country?

You don't get fined in Scotland, I'm guessing this thread is about English schools rather than "UK" schools.

There is no "whole UK Education system".

Which school was it and where?

Which it hasn't been...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crkzn77mz0xo

.

No doubt said from a lofty position of having access to great state schools 🙄
It's a postcode lottery for good state secondaries. I live in a black hole of state secondary schools but I live in NE so most of the PP on here won't give a shit about the condition of our schools. As long as London/SE schools are fine.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/feb/06/scotland-schools-pupil-violence-increase

My ds' grammar had a 0 tolerance policy for violence against staff and would lead to automatic expulsion.

Children as young as 4 bringing knives to school

The education sector is in crisis on many fronts. Ignoring that is dangerous

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c77d06vde4po

Wtf? Why?????? Why so violent????

As a London parent I always find it strange that I simultaneously seem to be living in a bubble of immense privilege with no concept of the rest of the country's problems, and have extremely poor quality of life in a squalid bedsit with gun and knife crime on my doorstep where no sane person would bring up children, depending on the thread. The truth is somewhere in between.

Well London has some of the best state schools in the country, that's simply a fact.
The NE has worst outcomes at GCSE + ALevels in the country as well as worse funding. That's a fact too.

Make what you will of those facts but they remain true

What’s that got to do with pupil results?

Perhaps but you don't necessarily have your pick of schools in the city depending on where you live. There have been stabbings at most of my local schools in the past decade, increasing in recent years, and the cost of living has impacted teacher retention massively in London for obvious reasons. There are also some incredible teachers and students doing well, to the point where I think a lot of PP's characterisations in the thread is unfair and one- dimensional, but I do recognise some of the issues.

Not everyone agrees with you:
Data from Pisa, an international study of school performance, shows that, almost two decades after the came to power at Holyrood, test scores in science have fallen by 32 points and in maths by 35 points.

Unions and teachers would disagree too:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2xr243eryo

Its ultimately down to the pupils and how they are managed which is fundamentally how a school comes to have a reputation. Some schools in deprived areas can be great successes because the leadership is strong and effective enriching pupils lives rather than being a place they hate.

If you have an incompetent head teacher or weak SLT then the school will suffer.

DP has just left what on paper should have been a dream school in one of the most sought after places to live in the UK - because discipline was non existent, the pupils were horrific and the vast majority of teachers at breaking point.

Throw in entitled nightmare parents and you could potentially have quite a toxic mix.

Lucky for them they can do that. Much harder to exclude in a state school.

State grammar. Not private.

Which country? England?