Grammar schools and where to move to in UK

[Thegirlisnotright]

Where is a nice area to live with free grammar schools? Quite simply we could move anywhere, but know nothing about most of the UK 😂

@MumTryingHerBest - there are grammars in NI which are run with a Catholic ethos, but this wouldn't obstruct a non-church going family from choosing it as an option. There isn't the same emphasis on being part of the parish as there is in the rest of the U.K when it comes to school admissions for Catholic schools.

As long as you pass the exam (or score highly enough), they would not discriminate based on religion.

dinosaurkisses

Thanks, I though I might be something for OP to consider but as it isn't an issue... :-)

IroningMountain - Oh ok the vast maj of kids are vying for the miniscule number of grammar

I didn't say anything about the vast majority.

This give the number of candidates for various CEM Tests:

www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/395187/response/961527/attach/3/2016%20Test%202017%20entry%20FOI%20Info%20Bartley.pdf

These look like fairly large numbers to me (in relation to the actual number of places available), more than 57,000 is a fair number to me. Obviously you don't agree. Fair enough.

Church? For NI schools?
Splutters

"there are plenty of state schools which are non-selective and don't look at academic aptitude. I thought that made them comprehensive? " No, what makes a school comprehensive is that it offers an education suitable for a comprehensive intake, i.e all abilities. The minute you segregate high ability kids the school is no longer comprehensive. And accordingly, many of the high schools in a grammar area do not offer triple science, or may offer only one MFL. And mo further maths, etc.

BWatchWatcher As stated, I don't know the NI education system at all.

If it is just a case of sitting an exam and places are won via score top down then it should be made clear to OP.

It isn't as simple as that where I am or the surrounding 11 plus areas.

What about Scotland? No grammar schools. Just state schools or private fee paying schools. You go to the local catchment school so no messing about with choosing schools or the wait to see if you've been accepted or not. (although placing requests exist the majority don't use them).
If the performance aspect and exam results are important to you then places like East Dunbartonshire or East Renfrewshire (top 1 and 2 in best place to be a women apparently) are good options with consistently top performing schools. You'll pay more for housing but would easily get a four bed house for under 400k. Also schools in Linlithgow, Dunblane, Balfron also perform very well.
In any of these areas you're never very far from a city, loch, mountain or beach. IMHO the most beautiful country in the world (when the sun shines)

Not the slightest chance of a good sized 4 bed house in T Wells on your budget OP.

Have you considered Grantham? Kings School and KGGS are both single sex state grammar (past pupils Isaac Newton and Margaret Thatcher). Train to King's Cross 65 mins, close to A1, East Midlands Airport. Lots 4 bed detacheds in £300-400 range.
E.g. www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-59547994.html

No I don't agree Mum in comparison to the huge numbers of secondary age children there are(2.7 million in 2015 and rising yearly). That is also assuming all of those taking the exam are under poor mental health inducing pressure which of course you can't guarantee.

Not really relavent anyway as last I heard 10 and 11 year olds aren't classed as teenagers.

Ta1kinPeece you have confirmed my gut feel for both colleges. We're quite a distance from Symonds, but DD should tick all the other boxes to get a offer.

Solihull.

South of Birmingham 10 mins from Bham international. You can get buses to the Grammar schools e.g Camp Hill which is amazing OR live in catchment of two amazing comps. Arden & Tudor Grange. But you won't get a 4 bed for 400k

Also brilliant selective independents too Solihull School & St Martins. A hot housing prep would be Ruckleigh and a regular nice prep would be Eversfield.

Naice areas are Dorridge & Knowle - but houses v expensive.

Lincolnshire, and with your house budget it could really work. Horncastle has a good grammar school

^secondary Governor places are not catchment bound, but given to those scoring the most highly in the Kent test.I am genuinely confuddled...I thought that in each area, the Grammar school filled itself with the kids who came top in the test
how can cross catchment offers fit into that
how do the 40 local kids excluded from the grammar feel about it?^

The local parents are certainly pissed off about the Grammar tourism that goes on in Kent. Especially when they don't have secondary moderns as their alternative and we do.

What many grammars here do is have an in area score and an out of area score. Top score is 420 (max is 140 on each paper, passmark 106 on each paper minimum 320 overall ) - so say an in area score might be 350 and an out of area score 380. Maybe 90 places for in area and 90 places for out of area.

Some schools are more Kent centric than others. My DSs school for example has an in area intake of around 85% so out of area children need a huge score to get in.

Other parts of Kent have just catchment - it varies from school to school.

Lancaster has been mentioned - they're not 'superselective' if you're in catchment (which is quite a large area) . Clitheroe has a mixed one too. Because Lancashire has very few grammars there are some decent comps

I would t move to a Grammar School area. My DD is sitting the 11+ today, and it's incredibly stressful. He's a bright boy and we have paid for tutoring as literally everyone does, and we learned from putting DD through it 4 year ago that just having a bright child isn't enough.

Problem is that if he doesn't get a high enough score to get in, the catchment comps are truly awful. 40% pass rate for 5 GCSEs, local school abandoned by the much vaunted academy group that promised to turn it around and back in LA hands.

So in paper, great top of national league table Grammar schools in this area. Unfortunately only a tiny minority's of kids are getting this gold standard education whilst the rest get a very below par offering. The gap in educational standard is staggering.

Every single time I read a thread about grammar schools it depresses me and makes me feel very thankful that we don't have them in our area.

It is really going backwards to cream off the super bright and then send the bright, averagely bright and not so bright to such awful schools that no-one benefits. How short sighted is this?

It is really going backwards to cream off the super bright and then send the bright, averagely bright and not so bright to such awful schools that no-one benefits. How short sighted is this?

But that's not how it has to be. As mentioned upthread, N Ireland has the grammar school system but the non grammars are not dead end schools with poor results.

So why can't we do this here then?

Doesn't happen in Trafford either. The secondary modern schools here are amazing. They have to be good to compete with the grammar schools. There is no room for complacency. And they often excel in other areas such as sports etc

It is really going backwards to cream off the super bright and then send the bright, averagely bright and not so bright to such awful schools that no-one benefits. How short sighted is this?

where on earth are you based. Over in Gloucestershire we have 7 grammars and a whole host of great secondary schools. DD is going to a grammar 6th form, but got her GCSEs at a decent comp (catchment area in miles, not feet, so you can get a really nice 4 bed in catchment for £400k) .

She chose the grammar for the 6th form art department - her area of focus post GCSE. If one of the comps in reasonable distance had a better art department she would have gone there. Her sister will stay at her academy secondary as it specialises in the sciences, her personal focus.

I can only speak from my limited experience of state grammar in NI.

To the best of my knowledge, in the state sector, church attendance, religious affiliation or lack thereof is not even a thing in terms of admissions. It's the score in the test that determines if you get a place and mostly, that alone.

You could apply for the grammar at the end of the street or one 100 miles away. The score gets you in (or not). Once the grammar school has exhausted its places working down the list of scores then mostly, that's it.

As I say, I can only speak from my limited experience. I haven't read the criteria for every school. There have to be rules for what happens if children are tied on a score etc.

I don't know if it would be described as "super selective"? Don't know the stats. That said, there are always disappointed children and that's really tough. Our local secondaries are very good, but there is still what seems to me to be a divide at age 11.

The process was very stressful for us.

I'm in South Yorkshire. Our LA has no grammar schools. In fact, there are no state grammar schools anywhere in South Yorkshire. The nearest state grammar school is in Heckmondwike in West Yorkshire.

There are fee paying grammar schools in Sheffield and Wakefield (which is in West Yorkshire I know, but nearer to me than most of South Yorkshire).

There are 3 state grammars in West Yorkshire and 3 in North Yorkshire. I imagine it is pretty competitive to get into them, but as the grammar system is not the norm, and Yorkshire is huge, we have some excellent comprehensive schools.

I'm in York, and it's the same. No grammar schools, and great comprehensives. I counted it up, and I think 92% of places in the city were in schools I'd be happy for my kids to attend. DD is applying for secondary schools at the moment, and I'm confident that she even if she ends up at a second or third or fourth choice school that she will get a great education.

Salisbury has a boys and separate girls grammar school. Excellent schools and lovely area.