GCSE '18s (20) - half term beckons!

[mmmz]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/further_education/3355907-gcse-18s-19-new-beginnings

Reasonable adjustments by no means level the playing field for children with spld in many, many cases.

It all comes down to money really. I think the spend per pupil in the state sector is about £6k per year in the UK.
The average private school fees in the UK is about £12k per annum. In London it's more like £16k.

.....the difference in gcse results reflects this as do A Level results.

You won't be able to recruit and train good teachers without a SERIOUS injection of cash (which the government doesn't have).
There are some great teachers out there but they are feeling the strain and only the most dedicated will stick it out.

We could Level the playing field by abolishing private schools but that puts an extra few thousand kids into the state system. Plus it will never remove the advantage of having educated parents who take an interest in their children's education.

Yep, life isn't fair and I don't think it ever can be other than by social mobility which would require an improved education system.

I live in an area with very poor schools (virtually all the schools are on the list that receive contextual offers) but I am lucky enough to be able to afford private school fees....... it doesn't stop me feeling bad (or guilty?) for those that can't.

Holy mackerel jufus

The thing is that private schools do serve a purpose - specialisms, special support, small schools and so on. And I totally understand people wanting to opt out of the madness of the current system. But they do seem to be amazingly expensive - and there are great results from comprehensives as well! Parental support rather than money is so important, though, as threads attest!

I love teaching but I came to it very late and it's exhausting. And I don't even teach in a school!

On a totally unrelated note has anyone visited Leeds University? There's a degree course there that might be perfect for DS if he gets the grades. I've been there once and loved it but I don't know the university at all.

Brainmelt 

Clearly the emojis aren't working - there was supposed to be a grin there!

Loose My DBiL (see earlier posts for academic credentials) highly rates Leeds. he suggested DD should consider it if she decided to go for history as a stand alone subject. I did vaguely suggest a trip there whilst we were in Yorkshire this week, but the idea was poo-pooed by everyone else. I poo-pooed the poo-poo and went to watch They Shall Not Grow Old instead.

Loose my friend’s DD graduated from Leeds recently (English) and loved it!

This is sounding very positive, thanks! I was there a couple of years ago and did a lovely walking tour culminating in tea at a historic library in the centre but obviously that isn't the most objective basis for advising DS! Your feedback is very much appreciated!

Loose Leeds is an excellent Uni, DS has ruled it out at the moment as its a little bit too big and scary for him
We went to UEA and DS loved it, really liked Norwich and the campus, I think it was just the right size....gosh I'm making him sound like goldilocks!

Bpisok you really shouldn't feel bad for doing the best my your DC, I personally want to see standards raised for all not for others to be brought down.

Many years ago, when I was young, my parents had the choice of sending my DB to the local comp where barely any pupils got O levels or scrimping & saving to send him to private boys school. He was not academic, but worked hard, got a place and plodded away to get his O levels and scraped through his A levels. His school was horrified when he dared to apply to Polys as well as Unis to read law. They were even more shocked when he turned down a more prestigious place to go to a decidedly dodgy Poly, but ended up afterwards at Guildford Law School and is now a hugely underpaid mental health & child protection lawyer. The world would be a far worse place if he had followed the route his teachers advised and had become yet another bland corporate lawyer.

In the meantime, Maggie Thatcher introduced an element of choice and I was lucky enough to get a place at a better state school. I was only able to attend my DB's school as a 6th former (something to do with being a girl!) on a scholarship and took up an unconditional offer at a university which is probably out of favour these days for a course scorned by my school, despite more prestigious offers.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that everyone tries to do the best for their DC at the time, but they gradually become their own people and will start to find their own route regardless of what their parents or teachers want. If they decide they want to read Adventure & Outdoor Management at Solent University or Accountancy, Spanish & Latin American Studies at Aberdeen or take up an engineering apprenticeship 10 miles from home, they will head in that direction. We can pay for open day transport, share our views on the college and fret about achieving their potential, but if they set their heart on heading in a different direction to the one we envisaged, we're going to have to run with it, as forcing them to follow our dream is bound to end in disaster.

I don't think this post has followed on from any other in particular, I'm just watching DD tweak her chosen path, then tweak it again and again until it's heading in a direction I know little about.

Is They Shall Not Grow Old the WW1 reels coloured, Stickerrocks? I'd like to see that. Was it any good?

Amen to that Sticker

Sticker DS1 is definitely someone who will keep tweaking his choices. I don't know what he'll end up doing but it will be fascinating to find out!

And by the way there is nothing wrong with being a "bland corporate lawyer" either! It funds my life and my kids' lives! Just saying! Hopefully DH and ! haven't made the world a lesser place by being corporate lawyers.

Anyway that said I get the pleasure of going a Cambridge Uni lecture this afternoon at the Festival of Ideas as it relates to DS's EPQ topic.

Amen to all of you! Yes yes yes to engaged and interested parents (who might not necessarily be highly educated). And yes to our angels pursuing their own paths, regardless of advice 

Had another brilliant discussion with DS last night - politics, health care, taxation, etc. He has some bizarre ideas but is able to present them, and listens to counter-arguments, and doesn't resort to personal insults or swearing. He'll go far..! (he's already gone further than DH, who assumes if I disagree with him it means I hate him and think he's stupid..) I love a good debate/argument/discussion and think they are vital in society.

PJ day for us today, been a bit busy lately 👍

PS love that rhinestoned outfit!!!

Terf2Terf yes to enjoying a good debate/argument/discussion. We had lots in my family growing up. My ExH couldn't get his head around the fact that disagreeing with someone fairly robustly didn't mean you didn't love them, or that the whole process was a lot of fun. One of the many reasons he left...

DS1 is really good at it. DS2 doesn't do talking and DS3 is still in the grunting stage, but I have high hopes.

Leeds is an excellent Uni, DS has ruled it out at the moment as its a little bit too big and scary for him
We went to UEA and DS loved it, really liked Norwich and the campus, I think it was just the right size....gosh I'm making him sound like goldilocks!

DD and I ventured forth to visit Leeds for the first time for the September open day and were both smitten with the place (town and gown), even in the rain. It seems to have a good combination of campus and city location - possibly her 'Goldilocks' university. She also likes Norwich, UEA and the course offered at UEA in her subject and UEA has the advantage of not wanting a slightly scary A in French from her, so she hopes for an offer in order to make it her insurance at the very least.

Yep a good debate is great exercise for the mind and it also helps exploring new ideas and putting coherent arguments together. DD and I can debate for hours (and hours and hours). DH on the other hand, walks in rolls his eyes at us and goes to bed 😀
DD does debating competitions and said that her favourites are where she takes the opposite position to her actual beliefs. I think that's what you call contrary.

I am so impressed with all your DC who are actively looking at Unis and/or know what they want to study. DD just has a high level 'I want to stay in a big city' and hasn't even decided which subject!!
6 months ago she was looking at computing now she is talking History/English/Politics or a combination. By next summer it could be literally anything.

I have been reading course specs but she won't engage at all. I suppose visiting Unis in 8 months time seems a long time to her. To me it seems just around the corner.

I left knowing about her GCSEs far too late so this time I am determined that I will be informed. It will be all her decisions though unless she chooses something really daft (did you know that you can do a degree in Harry Potter?!!?!!)

Bits of Warwick are attractive, too

Shalom I was a bland big 4 accountant, so no offence was meant. There is little call for the Big 4 accountants or high flying corporate lawyers in Cornwall though, but sadly a lot of children's & mental health work.

I thoroughly enjoyed (if that is the right phrase) They Shall Not Grow Old. It was definitely the kind of film you become engrossed in and could easily watch by yourself. There was so much optimism in their words initially which turned to disbelief in 1918 when they returned home and realised that to a certain extent life had carried on without them and civilians had no urge to understand what they had seen & done. I think it will be shown on BBC over the next few weeks.

Headed from Yorkshire yesterday down to Cornwall today. I shall now find a tin mine to dig myself a hole in further!

Did you see the Warwick goose, MarchingFrogs?

Not much call for manufacturing/quality engineers anywhere in the UK these days sadly.

I'd like to see the WW1 colourised film. Must keep an eye out for it on BBC. Just in time for Armistice 100 maybe?

sticker happy digging! You're right in what you say re them finding their own paths.

On our way back from Cambridge. DS enjoyed the masterclass and I enjoyed finding a pub and lunch/a glass of wine with my book for company. Too cold to do much wandering-it was bloody freezing! Don't think I bumped into kingscote's DH!