To think I am unfair on Comprehensive Schools based on my own Experiences 30 years ago.

[soul2000]

A bit of a odd thread this one, but relevant to my and possibly other peoples
perceptions about comprehensive Education.

I had a "NIGHTMARE" last night , i started dreaming about things that i have blanked out that happened 30 years ago but scar me , or at least cause me to be very intransigent towards Comprehensive Education.

I am sure the Bullying and disregard that i suffered from Teachers and Pupils alike could not happen today, netherless they stay with you.

One incident that i remembered last night was as a 1st year at assembly the Deputy Head teacher asked a Question what does D Day stand for,I put my hand up and said Landing Day and that my Grandad had been at Dunkirk. The teacher started Laughing at me and said D stands for Democracy and he was not talking about Dunkirk. 200 1st and 2nd years started laughing at me
in the assembly this part of many incidents and bad experiences that have perhaps clouded my views.

The odd thing is these incidents have affected me for worse than some of the dangerous situations i have been in though my business life.

I realise that this is an odd thread and maybe should not be in this section.
There are two reasons why i have posted in this section. 1. I was actually very upset last night thinking about these incidents and others that happened to me.
2.This section has not tried to take me apart like other parts of this website.

Chazs
the "swot" at my gels private school was regularly picked on for "oh here she goes winning everything" - there were only 40 of us so it was pretty personal
she is now a world class scientist and her biog online does not have a single nice thing to say about the school
I agree with her

BUT
honestly, one of the unintended consequences of league tables is that bright kids are celebrated

at DD 6th form college interview there were posters up about a lad who got 7 A* at A level (yes really) and he'd been state right through
their only problem will be the effect that had on the following year's comparatives!

Thank goodness time has moved on..

I was the only Chinese at school and not only was I racially abused and picked on because I was quite and worked hard. Got good results...

Now 30 years on my daughter goes to school and she is neither racially abused ir picked on.In fact her peers join her in the library to study so they can all get good results.

Although I do suspect this is the difference between a secondary modern holding pen that I went to and a selevtive private that my daughter goes too.

I still occasionally have nightmares about VI form.

When visiting my parents I used to drive the long way round so I didn't drive past my old school.

You are not alone

Morry. I can understand why you pushed that teacher into the pond, having experienced that kind of bullying and humiliation. This type of humiliation and bullying was endemic in some schools in the 70s/80s. If you had complained your complaint would not have been listened to, hence having come to the end of your tether you did something that in hindsight you wished you had not done.

Contrast the lack of that was around in those days with the nonsense that goes on today. A teacher today can be suspended for any unfounded allegation from a pupil .

Talkinpeace, bright kids are celebrated to the detriment of the less able who feel more and more overlooked. It may be cool to be bright within the top set but outside of that there is simmering resentment for the golden kids from the pupils that are being let down by the system. But don't worry, vertical tutoring means that the top set never really have to mix with the rest of their less 'privileged' cohort so the resentment just simmers away whilst they rack up their A*s.

I've noticed when looking at the dfe site that the higher attaining kids often have a lower value added score than the lower attaining kids (possibly because less effort needs to be made for the higher attainers to get 5 A-C grades, so the lower attainers aren't always let down are they? Although I take your point about bright kids being celebrated possibly causing resentment

They are certainly let down in my catchment school which does worse than the very poor LEA average at KS4.

The head of this school is the king of spin and the parents feel positively privileged that their kids go there. Their SDP is laughable and makes no attempt to address these poor results - they are too busy celebrating Jemima's 10 A*s.

The school has recently been Ofsteded and I will cry if they get 'Good'.

Soul. Yeah i wish in hindsight that i had a "Teacher" who would have listened to the bullying i suffered for five years and stopped the daily humiliation that some teachers put me through.

The difference then to today is that when i walked out of the school on that March day , i walked straight into a full time job working in a shop . It was possible in them days to advance in life without academic qualifications. At the school where i was a pupil,many pupils left at Easter term in the fifth form and didn't even bother taking exams. Many of them found work in factories or work though quite quickly.

As for whether today state education is achieving the education that pupils deserve i don't know. I can only go on how my exceptional bright but emotional DD whose education which up to January last year, was awful.

My DD as i have posted before despite having an IQ of 138 and a statement for ADHD/ASD and other symptoms was not getting the support she needed from her highly regarded Comprehensive and was predicted 5Es for Gcse.

With the support of the "New" SENCO and 1 months hard work managed to get Cs in English/History Ds in Maths/Science and P.e. The school readmitted her to yr11 this year and now is on target for 7 A* grades and on target to start English Lit/ History chemistry A levels next year.

These are the grades my DD should have been getting from yr7. She should not have had the terrible education and lack of support she suffered for five years.

I can't thank the new SENCO enough,who stood up to the Deputy and Head for DD. She gave DD a ultimation that if she tried and bettered those predicted grades, she would stick her neck out for her.

morry1000 thank goodness for that SENCO and the best of luck to your DD.

Thank You Pickled. Things are on track now , after 12 months of personal heartache from DH and elder DD wanting to live with him.

We are now all back together thank god , elder DD on track for a first class Degree in Ancient History at a RG University.

So that's good news all round then morry .

pickledsiblings
interestingly the simmering resentment does not appear to be a problem at DCs school (DDs set of friends have a huge range of academic ability)
BECAUSE
Its a comp, so they have to motivate all sorts of kids
therefore the sports stars are celebrated (including those whose 'sport' is banger racing or golf)
music and drama are big things
so there are things that almost every child can excel at
regardless of what grades they will get in the EBACC

I suspect that at smaller schools with less resources those breadth options will not be possible
and yes, if one is in the bottom 10% of a segregated school cohort, that must be utterly depressing - another reason against them

Do they have vertical tutor groups at your DDs school Talkin?

No.
Tutor groups are set at the start of year 7 - selected to have kids from each of the feeder schools, all ages and mixed ability

the school is divided into 6 'houses'
and each year 7 tutor group has an attached year 11 prefect

beyond that the years tend to mix only in the extra - curricular stuff

I think that is a much healthier set up than the vertical tutoring system at our Comp.

We also have 3x 100 minute lessons per day.

hmmm, yup I can see why you are not happy with that

double lessons (ours are 50 minute) are fine in some subjects but not others
DH works on the principle set by Michael FArady that 50 minutes is enough for anybody