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Original poster

In praise of comprehensive schools

893 replies

FreshHorizons · 23/08/2016 14:51

It was cheering to see the Sutton Trust announce that 60% of Team GB medalists came from comprehensive schools.

I have finally come off a thread where certain people can't find a good word to say about comprehensive schools. They equate them with mixed ability teaching, poor behaviour and an inability to stretch bright children.

I would like a thread to celebrate the best of comprehensive education.

In my case it allowed my 3 , very different, children to be able to go to the same school without being judged by outsiders. It meant the stability of knowing one school over a long period of time and them knowing our family. It meant that days off and parent evenings didn't clash and that money was saved by handing down uniform. They were able to move up with the bulk from their primary school. They were able to mix with children of different abilities and backgrounds, as you do in adult life. It meant being able to enjoy education for the joy of learning new things, without the stress of an exam that would determine their path in life, aged only 10 or 11yrs.

Those things didn't really matter, although they were helpful.

What really mattered was that they could all blossom at their own rate.
They all got a good education and are now happily established in careers- the careers that they chose.

It wasn't all about the academic side- there were opportunities in sport, music, outdoor activities etc.

It would be nice to have some success stories. Please don't post about crap schools- start another thread for that if you have grievances you want to air.

It is the summer, the sun is out and some happy, optimistic stories would be nice. Smile

OP posts:
Original poster
FreshHorizons · 23/08/2016 20:43

I would just like to say that I was praising our comprehensive school because it was good for all my children. The academic one, the practical one, the artistic one and were a great help with dyslexia.

If you want to moan about comprehensives in poor areas or that don't meet the needs of all children then do my suggestion and start a 'crap comprehensive' thread.

This is about the best.

OP posts:
BertrandRussell · 23/08/2016 20:46

And the people for whom there are two sorts of comprehensive- "failing" and "leafy".......

Original poster
FreshHorizons · 23/08/2016 20:46

I should have known better Peregrina.
My last sentence in OP said it all - sad it was derailed so quickly.

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user1468841624 · 23/08/2016 20:46

I got straight As in my A levels at a comp 20 years ago. I'm not all that bright, but I had excellent teachers.

leccybill · 23/08/2016 20:47

I work in a brilliant comprehensive in the centre of a large town. We take from over 60 primary schools, so truly the full range of ability.
It's a real family school - so nurturing, and with so much opportunity in terms of clubs and trips. Plenty of high achievers, Oxbridge entrants, former Olympians and even Oscar winners. Super SEN support, small class sizes and dedicated support too.

Clavinova · 23/08/2016 20:50

But you haven't linked to the Sutton Trust statement FreshHorizons.

wigglybeezer · 23/08/2016 20:53

Two Olympic finalists from my kids comp and two from my old comp (including a gold medal).

JasperDamerel · 23/08/2016 20:55

I grew up in a grammar school area and now live in an area with excellent comprehensives. My children are still at primary school, but of my friends who have children who have gone through A-levels, they have mostly ended up doing what they really wanted to do: two at Oxford, one at SOAS, one studying medicine, one at Edinburgh, one doing a music tech course at the local college, one at Leeds, and one going straight into work.

ChablisTyrant · 23/08/2016 20:57

I was lucky to be educated alongside my sisters, one of whom certainly wouldn't have passed an 11+, in a large comprehensive. Had amazing teachers and great extra-curricular activities. Straight As and Oxbridge. So pleased my own kids will have a similar experience.

NotCitrus · 23/08/2016 21:07

DH was lucky he went to a comp, being talented in maths and design/ tech stuff, but unable to read age 11. Got a bunch of good O-level and CSEs, and some crap CSEs in essay subjects, moved house and ended up in a grammar for 6th form that he'd never have got into any younger, has degree plus a doctorate now.

His comp was one that was going to be a technical school until those were abolished; it had far better CDT and IT facilities than my private school did 10 years later.

Original poster
FreshHorizons · 23/08/2016 21:41

Will this do 60% comprehensives 8% grammar Clavinova. Can't we just celebrate success rather than having to point out that some came from grammar schools? Some came from independent schools too. I wasn't doing down other types of school. Scotland was part of teamGB.

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Original poster
FreshHorizons · 23/08/2016 21:58

As far as I am aware Scotland has comprehensive schools in the state sector.

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Clavinova · 23/08/2016 22:00

Well ok, but they have forgotten to check if some of the comprehensives are in fact secondary moderns - I found 3 in 5 minutes. Scotland was part of team GB but they do have their own education system - we can't take the credit for it and posters often point out that it's better than ours.

Original poster
FreshHorizons · 23/08/2016 22:10

Why be so mean spirited and quibble? No I haven't nit picked my way through it - I was celebrating the fact that comprehensives have done well.
I am not sure what your point is about the Scottish system- since it is all comprehensive it seems an odd argument to say that it is better than ours!
They do have their own system - but since it it is comprehensive it is counted in.
I am cross that I am having this conversation when it was purely a thread for celebrating our comprehensives.

You started with 'I hate to point out....' When actually you loved it! A pity you didn't get the facts first.

Quibbling and nit picking aside, comprehensive educated people did well in the Olympics- and much better than they did in 2012. Something to celebrate.

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Original poster
FreshHorizons · 23/08/2016 22:13

And if secondary moderns did well too then well done them! Well done to the ex grammar school pupils and the ex independent school pupils.
Well done TeamGB!

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beatricequimby · 23/08/2016 22:23

Clavinova Nobody said this thread was just about English comps (apart from you). The Scottish system is the same in the most fundamental principle ie comprehensive schools are for every local child, just like in England.

Katharine Grainger, the most decorated British female Olympian went to a comp near me.

JWIM · 23/08/2016 22:25

I will cheer for the comprehensives that I have experience of both myself and my children.

40 odd years ago I started at a, newly converted from Sec Mod, Comp. The former Grammar in the same market town is now well regarded but did struggle for some years to serve all abilities well. All 4 of us went to the comps and then 6th form college. We became - Lawyer, Surgeon, Headteacher and Engineer - so no under achievement. We all enjoyed a wide curriculum, extra curricular activities and had encouraging and able teachers.

More importantly we all learned how to get along with everyone.

My own DC have attended another market town comp. They too have had a great education, lots of extra curricular activities and trips available to all, made friends with lots of children with similar and different family experiences and life expectations.

impostersyndrome · 23/08/2016 22:32

My DS just finished at a comp with straight As. Excellent teaching, great ethos that gives individual targets to each child, regular reports. All his mates have done brilliantly, getting in to top twenty universities.

MachiKoro · 23/08/2016 22:35

60% from comprehensives? Yet 93% of children do not attend independent schools, so independently educated are still significantly over-represented.

Peregrina · 23/08/2016 22:39

Yes, but we are not talking about Independents or Grammars, we are trying, despite the best efforts of some to derail the thread, to point out how many good Comprehensives there are.

Original poster
FreshHorizons · 23/08/2016 22:44

There us so much meanness on this thread! State schools did so much better than 4 yrs ago- that is what we need to celebrate. They are great role models as children can see that it is possible.

Thank you those people who have entered into the spirit of my thread.
There are plenty of arguments elsewhere - you don't have to look hard to find them!

The title is 'In praise of comprehensive schools'. There is no need to take part if you have nothing to praise and, as I said in OP, you could start your own on crap comprehensives- there are plenty. This is about the good ones.

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sandyholme · 23/08/2016 22:59

Fresh Horizons. My post was about 'congratulating' all state schools regardless of type .

The results are a fillip for sport in all state schools and also a huge improvement on 2012 . What also appears to have happened is that state school pupils have managed to get in to sports that previously were the domain of the private schools.

This is certainly the case in Rowing with a larger than previous noof the GB Rowing team coming from state schools.

All in all something for the state sector to celebrate !

sandyholme · 23/08/2016 23:00

Large no of the GB Rowing team...

dontrustcharisma · 23/08/2016 23:04

My DC both did extremely well at comprehensive school. one into an RG university and the other in to Medical school.
I really don't think they would have done well in a grammar school area as they were both slow burners academically and weren't at a level at age 11 to have passed the 11 plus. They would have failed the 11 plus and gone to a secondary modern where they wouldn't have had the opportunities a true comprehensive was able to give them

bibbitybobbityyhat · 23/08/2016 23:12

Colin Firth went to a secondary modern in my home town. Just a year before the grammar/secondary modern system was abandoned for comprehensives. He seems to have turned out ok ...

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