Theresa May to end ban on grammar schools

[noblegiraffe]

Theresa May to end ban on grammar schools, reports the Telegraph.

This is not a policy announcement, rather a testing of the waters, I suspect.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/06/theresa-may-to-end-ban-on-new-grammar-schools/

Bertrand - can you outline the number of schools you have worked in, and the type of schools those are?

gilly, but the presence of a grammar won't improve your local schools - it will, if anything, make them worse. So the overall provision for the whole cohort will decline, because the schools for the majority will decline, even if the provision for the small minority improves.

Improving schools perceived as bad (there is a strong correlation between 'school seen as good' and 'low % of deprived children', so approaches that either share children from deprived backgrounds fairly between all schools in a wider area or fund schools in a banded way based on their intake) would be a much better way forward.

"Bertrand - can you outline the number of schools you have worked in, and the type of schools those are?"

I will if you will.

Noble

Thats a fair point tbh. I hadn't thought about it like that.
For years I have seen the children of our borough let down compared to the schools in the next county, just over the border from here.
I see what is available in Cheshire/ South Manchester, not just the grammar system (similar to kent) so I've been told, but the lovely comps where children are encouraged to do well and given every opportunity.

To me it doesn't matter whether it's a grammar, comp, secondary modern academy, free school etc as long as there is an environment where learning is encouraged.

To clarify - both at a national level, and in my local area, there is a direct correlation between %FSM and Ofsted rating.

Locally, those with

As an immigrant from a country with a tiered system (exams at 11/12 to determine your next school), I really appreciate the English comp system so far!

My oldest child is neither a prodigee nor a problematic learner, but would not have passed 11+. Lucky we are in a comp area. He can be in a higher set for science and maths, and a lower one for humanities, and that suits him.

There must be many more kids who excell in some subject and struggle more with others.

For them, a comp is ideal.

It is not necessary in life to be all round academic, anyway. Imo!

Information about the school
This mixed 11–16 academy opened in September 2009 and replaced Tunbridge Wells High School. It serves an area where most other schools are selective. The academy is smaller than average. The large majority of students are from White British backgrounds with approximately 22% from minority ethnic groups. The percentage of students whose first language is not English is below average but rising. There is a higher than average percentage of girls. The number of students known to be eligible for free school meals is above average. The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs is also above average.
The academy has dual specialist status in science and engineering. There are plans to offer sixth form provision from September 2012. A building programme is underway. Scheduled to be completed by Spring 2013, it will provide a completely new school. The Skinners’ Company and The Skinners’ School are lead sponsors of the academy with Kent County Council and K College contributing as co-sponsors. The academy works in close partnership with The Skinners’ School, a selective school in Tunbridge Wells. The academy meets government’s current floor standards, the minimum expectations set for attainment and progress*

This is an outstanding school.

Ahh just gone back to thread and realised I read it wrong, thought op was going to attempt to ban grammar schools and turn them into academies.

They've done a fabulous job!

Yes Bertrand:
I've been a teacher at one secondary modern, two comprehensives (but in a rich area so wealthy parents sent their children to private schools) and two grammar schools.

I don't think any one system is better than the other.

You?

%FSM?

17.1% at present

Skinners Academy have 59.7% FSM (national average 28%) and SEN is at 16.1 (national average 7.3).

dashboard.ofsted.gov.uk/dash.php?urn=136137

Apologies, now Googled and have found the data. They have done brilliantly, indeed, and it is good to see a 'secondary modern' school having the corresponding grammar school as its sponsor. Whether simply combining the pupils of both schools in a single school called a comprehensive might have been an easier way forward is perhaps a moot point....

Apologies. I was looking at the wrong one. Here it is. Still well over:

dashboard.ofsted.gov.uk/dash.php?urn=135888

Different data is interesting - implies that their profile is changing through the process of 'gentirifcation' of good schools I mentioned on another thread.

2015 DfE data gives 36.8%.

Do they get additional funding from the Skinners' Company?

Bertrand and Teacher are aware of my belief in selective education !

This is despite being probably being one of the few posters on here who was educated in a so called 'secondary modern' school.

However, those that still use that designation or terminology do so as a way of shocking people and try to convince people that schools and education has not moved on from the 1960s.

For anyone who is not aware 'Modern' schools of the 50s 60s and 70s did not allow pupils to take O Levels and many left without even any CSE grades.

This is clearly not the case in any non selective schools in areas that allow for selection.

The so called 'modern schools' of today take the same GCSEs as any school, many even have 6th forms that offer A levels. Crikey some modern school pupils even get to University..

The truth is they are many so called 'Comprehensive' schools (those located in non selective areas) that offer an education more comparable to the 1960s model of education derided on here.

The creation of more good schools (whether they are grammar or non selective should be the aim).

The easiest way to close the attainment gap between the best schools and the worst ones is to close the best ones.

That is of course was the excuse used to create comprehensive schools in the 1960s.

It was a lot easier to do than trying to improve the non selective educational options.

Your data might be more recent teacher, now that it is doing so well, parents are fighting to get their DC in, it's a brilliant success story from what was the worst school around when I was growing up.

Parents are trying to get DC in from over the border.

Not a good idea. Educational reform is needed, but not this and not now (too soon after the last changes and too much else going on on the country at the moment).

"The Skinners’ Company made a strategic decision to invest charitable foundation money in a fantastic Sixth Form Centre and further classrooms at the Academy, and is now looking at ways to replenish the foundation to support broader co-curricula activity."

Would be interesting to know how much money the Skinners' Company have put into the school - and how much other schools might improve given the same support, and the same link with another school.

Yes, that's recent though, the sixth form centre money, it was turned around before that and the addition of new classrooms.

It's a great success story.

Yes, but they sent millions on a new building back in 2013 - possibly also based on Skinners' Company donations?

I suppose the point that I am making is that they are in the unusual position of having a rich sponsor who invests in their facilities.... and that this model of school improvement is expensive to replicate, so shouldn't blindly be hailed as 'the way forward'.

They are with other children who want to do well and not sneered at as some kind of weirdo or geek.

And this is what it always comes down to in the end isn't it? This belief that every comprehensive is some kind of throwback to Grange Hill with bright children cowering in the toilet! Of course grammar advocates never care that if they're right that 80% of children will still be in this environment.

I don't think that anyone has blindly claimed that it's the way forward have they?