Parents' Buying places at Grammars

[Judy1234]

From the Telegraph today which is quite interesting...

"Middle-class parents are "buying" places at grammar schools, according to a leading academic.

Up to a third of children admitted to grammars in some parts of the country have received tuition at fee-paying preparatory schools, it has been claimed.

Professor David Jesson, of York University, said the findings underlined claims from the Conservatives that selective state schools "entrench" social advantage.
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It will be a boost for David Cameron, the Conservative leader, who has faced a revolt by backbenchers after severing the party's long-standing ties with grammar schools.

Mr Cameron said that selecting pupils by their academic ability at 11 benefited families from affluent areas but condemned working-class children to an inferior education.

Prof Jesson analysed the 22,000 children admitted to England's 164 grammar schools every year. He found that 3,000 - more than 13 per cent - entered grammars after being educated at private prep schools.

But just seven per cent of children in England are schooled in the private sector - suggesting that children from wealthy families are dramatically over-represented in grammar schools.

Prof Jesson said that in at least one local authority area 33 per cent of the grammar school population was from prep schools.

He also said pupils from the private sector scored similar results to state school pupils in national tests taken at the age of 11. However, they appeared to do better in the 11-plus - the grammar school entrance test - fuelling claims that they are "coached" to pass the exam.

He said: "Shouldn't we be more strict in looking at grammar admission procedures if wealthy parents are buying their children into schools that coach them for the 11-plus? On a national test basis, they are no better than state school pupils."

The most sought-after grammar schools get more than 10 applications for every place and their popularity continues to grow. League tables for 14-year-olds published earlier this year showed that 81 of the top 100 schools were grammars.

Parents are believed to be going to increasing lengths to ensure their children get in.

A report last year said that children as young as eight were being sent to private tutors for up to three years' coaching for the 11-plus. Some parents are spending up to £1,500 a year paying for one-to-one tuition. In Warwickshire, it was claimed that copies of 11-plus papers were being circulated among private tutors, who can improve their reputation by helping pupils into top grammar schools.

Brian Wills Pope, the chairman of the National Grammar Schools Association, said the figures underlined the need to build more grammar schools.

"The grammar school ethos is to take pupils from any background," he told the Times Educational Supplement. "I'm sure 11-plus coaching does go on in some areas. It's just a shame there aren't more places."

A separate report published this week by the London School of Economics said that a grammar school education could be very beneficial to children from poor backgrounds. But it warned that many could not get in because admissions procedures were skewed against them."

True. In my ex husband's area there were 4 state grammars - basically virtually all the schools were grammars in those days in that area and some were hopeless. Grammar did not always mean good.

Oh they are fantastic schools Xenia - full of bright, lively but thoroughly ordinary children from the local catchment areas.
Some of them are near the top of the national league tables for A level results and also offer the IB.

I have friends whose daughters were privately educated at primary level and they sent them to tutors specifically for the 11+. Both girls passed (one year after the other) but our local grammars were not considered to be good enough so they are attending school in Tonbridge - obviously part of the posh brigade!

DS1's grammar is almost wholely populated by state educated pupils. All his friends attended state primaries and live in a variety of different style homes - some detached, some semis and some in local authority properties. A true cross-section of our community really.

With regard to deciding who goes to grammar if there are more recommendations than places, all they need to do is to offer a wider range of grades in the SATs, which would enable schools to take the top 25%, which is what grammars are designed to do.

Let's not be any more critical of people who are posh as we are of people who are black, white, ginger or very working class, though. We are all equal.

You know what I mean though Fio. They all get the bus to school and just brawl and cuss a bit less than your average teen

I'm not criticising the upper echelons of society though Xenia. Just pointing out that an excellent education and the drive to obtain one can both be found in lower middle class suburbs and small towns away from hotspots like Haberdashers and Manchester Grammar, both of which you've used as examples of a desirable educational establishment in the past

The drive to obtain an excellent education can also be found in the working class wasteland to which I can personally testify.

Academic ambition does exists amongst the working classes.

We sing from the same hymn sheet, FioFio

I think all our own experiences and environments play a part here - I'd describe where I live and also grew up as a wasteland too - mile upon mile of 30s semis and terraces with few facilities within walking distance. Hardly murder mile but not very vibrant or welcoming.
My old secondary school is still providing a great education in an area of London that has quite a bad rep for drugs and gun crime at present and was always quite edgy...but it's not a grammar any more so I thought not so relevant to this thread

My two sons both attended state primaries (one still there, leaving at end of term). I did not have either of them tutored for their entrance exams to their selective independent High school. I don't think differentiating ability based on SATs would work - they are so coached to those tests it is a disgrace.

The grammar here is mostly full of kids from state primaries - many of them are from very affluent backgrounds (though at least as many are not, I think) but whether any were tutored, short of interrogating them or their parents I wouldn't like to say (glitterfairy thinks they were ). (Mine weren't. Their primary school did do a lot of practice papers however.)

What intrigues me most about the intake is that each year there are 100 places for catchment kids (large catchment) and 20 for out of catchment, with an application rate of c 3:1 for the catchment places and maybe 10:1 for the out-of-catchment; all of my kids have known out-of-catchment children in their years and none have been startling brilliant, which leads me cynically to wonder where their application addresses were...

The independent schools here get results no better than the grammar's (not even at A level I don't think, and there is no entrance exam for the grammar 6th form) but the kids who went to them are generally much more poised.

almost all the children in our area who attend state primaries are coached through the 11+ - those who pass without extra tuition are the exception!

the trouble is all the tuition has a snowball effect - the more parents who do this (or who apply from prep schools) the more other parents who might not have gone down that route feel compelled to so their children don't 'lose out'.in our local area, grammars have a 99-100% pass rate at GCSE - the comps hover around the 40-50% level so a huge difference.

this is probably why the best known grammar in our area has over 1000 applications for 100 places........