"the more middle class the school, the better it does"

[puddle]

A study, reported in the Guardian today has found that regardless of background, children do better the more "middle-class" the school they attend. 50% of a school's performance is accounted for by the social make-up of its pupils.

Here's a quote from the article:

"In affluent areas, such as Dukes Avenue, Muswell Hill, in north London, and Lammas Park Road, Ealing, west London, the study would expect 67% of 11-year-olds to achieve level 5 in the national English tests and 94% of 15-yearolds to get five or more passes at GCSE at grade C and above.

Meanwhile, of the children growing up in more deprived areas, such as Hillside Road, Dudley, or Laurel Road, Tipton (both in the West Midlands), just 13% are likely to get the top level 5 in the national English tests for 11-year-olds, while only 24% of 15-year-olds will be reckoned to achieve the benchmark five-plus GCSEs at grade C and above.

Put simply, the more middle-class the pupils, the better they do. The more middle-class children there are at the school, the better it does. It is proof that class still rules the classroom."

This seems to me to be proof that middle class parents damage all children by taking their kids out of state education and into private schools and gives credence to the arguement that middle class parents should stick with the state sector to improve education for everyone.

Views? I know it's a total parp subject for many.....

I have a friend called Bruno. He is half italian but I think he would be upset if people thought his name was stupid. Tarquin is quite a nice name really.

I have often asked on threads like this what will/would you do if you hit a financail crisis and the money wasn't there any more. Divorce for example. I rarely get a response to this.

I know a couple who have reached rock bottom financially and rather than face the reality and pluck the kids out of private school (the timing was perfect for one as she was finishing primary and was about to start secondary) have decided to take thousands of pounds from one of their parents (which they cam ill afford) to keep up the payments.

Now that IS irrational, crazy and wrong. What exactly are the parents afraid off. The parents didn't even apply to state schools and there are plenty og good one around their area and if the private school had been as good as she always said then surely her DD would have done well in the entrance tests.

Excuse typing. Baby on lap asleep.

I never once slagged off all parents that choose private schools. I am sure if I lived in an area with a totally rubbish state primary I would look at the private option myself.

I do, and am entitled, to, slag off the parents (most of whom I know personally) who have a perfectly good (more than good) village school at their disposal and yet choose to move their kids to the (very expensive) private schools in our area. It pisses me off. Sorry but it does. Sue me. And Bruno isn't a pisstake. He is a real boy with a name not dissimilar to Bruno. I love him and am genuinely sad for him that he is being sent to Eton as he is a dreamy, sensitive child and it seems such a shame to have that knocked out of him. Cue all dhs that have been to Eton to line up and tell me how bunny hugging they are...

Drosophilia, I'm happy to give you an answer!

Have to say that for us divorce wouldn't have an impact on whether or not DD stayed in school. We both work f/t though which probably helps in this case.

We are fortunate in that we work in HE where low pay is compensated for by relative job security (once you have that elusive permanent position). If the worst did happen and we couldn't work we have enough insurance cover to pay the fees. And I'm also lucky enough to be my rich daddy's only child. He has offered to pay DD's fees anyway but we have turned himn down.

I don't know many people who got into this without considering the worst case scenario TBH.

Are we living in a communist country? I am half expecting Enid to lead a Red army revolution, pitting the proletariat Daves, Barrys and Tiffanys against the bourgeoisie Brunos, Tarquins and Arabellas.

Are we living in a communist country? I am half expecting Enid to lead a Red army revolution, pitting the proletariat Daves, Barrys and Tiffanys against the bourgeoisie Brunos, Tarquins and Arabellas.

Are we living in a communist country? I am half expecting Enid to lead a Red army revolution, pitting the proletariat Daves, Barrys and Tiffanys against the bourgeoisie Brunos, Tarquins and Arabellas.

Are we living in a communist country? I am half expecting Enid to lead a Red army revolution, pitting the proletariat Daves, Barrys and Tiffanys against the bourgeoisie Brunos, Tarquins and Arabellas.

I went to one of the top state schools in Scotland, and yet a number of the local parents still chose to send their kids to private school instead - mad! I think for some parents it's a lifetsyle choice.

I agree with some of the earlier posts. Many middle class parents probbaly had a higher level of education, and so place more emphasis on schooling. The challenge is for all parents to recognise the value of education, and support the schools and teachers accordingly. How do we do that? I have no idea...

Oh good grief, sorry for the repeated posts. Puter stuck. I don't feel that strongly about this subject!

"I do, and am entitled, to, slag off the parents (most of whom I know personally) who have a perfectly good (more than good) village school at their disposal and yet choose to move their kids to the (very expensive) private schools in our area."

But surely that only means that pupils who can' afford to 'go private', and who otherwise wouldn't have got a place at the "more than good" school in the village will be able to go.

How often do we here of children being forced to go to cr*ppy schools, or ones that are inconvinient to get to because the (good) school is oversubscribed.

If those parents who can afford to 'free up' some of those places by going private surely that's only a good thing......

Or alternatively, it could mean that the school will have to close because of falling rolls

sigh..

there is a falling roll at my village school (no fault of the school, its the same everywhere) so no place freeing necessary.

And two of the mums who are taking their kids out live in the village, ooh, about a 7 minute walk from the school.

So those reasons, QofQ, which may apply to many areas, do not apply here.

exactly wordgirl

it is a real, and heartfelt, worry

what do you mean - they could close and those children may have to go to a more "deprived" schioool to help bring up standard

it is a really good point you make drosophilia about changes in circumstances
I have seen this loads of times in my professional career - children being taken out of private schools because their parents are divorcing, their father has lost his job for whatever reason, and it is a tremendous culture shock.
I am not having a go at you bloss, or anyone in particular. I am - in fact - juts responding to the orginal post (remember that?) schools need parental and community support and if the middle classes abandon them (or a critical mass of them do) then this will become a self fulfilling prophect.
it has consequences, is all I am saying

oh fgs QofQ I am not even going to bother arguing why I want my local village school to remain open

But Enid, for whatever reason, your village school isn't what they want. It doesn't just have to be snobbery maybe they think it's too small, maybe they don't like the mixed age group classes. I can't imagine they would necessarily go into great detail about their reasons with someone as ardently pro the school as you seem to be. I am aware that I could be a (poorer) version of the parents you describe. I chose not to send DD to an excellent village school. To the neighbours who asked why we went for the private option I muttered something weak about afterschool care as I was hardly going to say that I'd rather leave DD with a pack of wolves than the village school Reception teacher, that I didn't like their approach to literacy etc. It would have been really rude considering they were happy enough to send their kids to the school.

'for the connections'
god that makes me want to vom
the only thing I would wish for is that my children achieve what they achieve on their own merits, not because of who they know or what school they went to
where's the achievement, the joy in that?

no you should have told them

now they'll be saying 'ooh hark at that marialuisa, making excuses about after school care when she clearly just wants to be posh'

honestly, we can take it

hmm just thinking - does this mean that only "middle class" schools can do well? And if so, why are the only two "decent" secondary schools in this town on the two 'worst' estates - and have most of their children come from those estates. while the school in the "nice" area is absolutely bollox and on special measures.

And besides - I hate all this comparison based on Exam Results....

good exam results are the only way to break out of a crappy background imho

but why do they have to do bl**dy GSCE's. A school in Corby, which has pretty 'poor' GSCE results have excellent results with Vocational Qualifications.

Call me old fashioned (I'm "only" 26 - well nearly 27) but I think the old system of Grammar and Comprehensive did actually ahve the right idea.

You DON'T need to have fantastic academic results to get a decent job (wouldn't it be a boring world if we were all Dr.s, Lawyers and Teachers.....). There are jobs without which this country would grind to a halt (literally) which don't require 10 GSCE's and 5 A Levels.

That's why I was pleased a few years ago to see that there's more of these "Modern Apprenticeships" around.

I worry all the time about the worse case scenario, what if we couldn't afford to anymore.

The main worry tbh is the stick dd would now get from kids at a state School for having gone private in the first place. (same type of comments as on this thread-up your own arse-sbob value- Tarquin type comments)
I worry too as i'm pregnant with third child and we're not millionares but i really want them all to go to this School.
DP owns his own buisness and we have worked out that if the worse were to happen, then the basic property sales would give us time enough to figue out what we'd do.
I'd be willing to work full time again (will when they're all in School anyway but am SAHM at the moment) and i'd be more than willing to downsize our house and move to a smaller place.

As for divorce, well we're not Married but if we split, dp woulod continue to fund their education till i could help too.

Actually Enid, one of the neighbours brought her kids to DD's party and commented on how disappointingly common, the private school parents were.....And some of the private school kids were wearing clothes from Asda!

Suspect the East Midlands is a bit different to Dorset though