Middle-class kids do OK in poor performing state schools - Really?

[mumofhelen]

The headlines say middle-class kids do OK in poorly performing state schools. This surprises me. We have two state comprehensive schools nearby, and no child from any social background has managed to get into a "Russel Group" university, let alone Cambridge, Oxford or Imperial College.

Call my cynical but it sounds like a case of what we desire most earnestly, we believe most easily.

Does anyone know where I can read the report more in-depth than the headlines?

doesn't look anything like you. mind you, haven't seen you in anything similar

Read through this thread and saw the report in the papers to which op was referring. Had to heave a big sigh again because the discussion is always about whether the children will get good results but it is rarely about whether the children will be HAPPY at school. I went to an appallung comprehensive in the '70's - guinea-pig year etc. I went to Oxbridge (in spite of my education and with no help from the school) but on paper I could be one of those stats which says mc kids still do ok. However, the fact that I was totally miserable won't be recorded.
It's not class it's attitude to education that matters. Poor children can still have supportive parents who want them to do well.
My worries for my dd in the future aren't so much about whether she will be surrounded by bright kids but whether she will be at school with well-behaved kids who allow the teachers to actually teach.

Good post Idlingabout.

'appalling' not 'appallung'

idling has a good point

i went to a dreadful school (with hindsight) but did well - reasonable uni

but..who knows what i would have achieved at a better school?

or you could argue that being one of the cleverest in a bad school is actully very good for the ego and confidence - i might have been very average in a great school

"cleverest in a bad school is actully very good for the ego and confidence" - IME it is a very bad thing to be the cleverst in a bad school.

Thanks witchandchips. I'll read the report together with the other reports it refers to - it may take some time.

im basing it on my own background only - i think in a good school i would have got better results (and not failed some o levels) but it did give me a real get on with it attitude that meant i did very well in my career - ahead of many people who went to great private school and oxbridge

That's a good point idlingabout. I too went to an appauling state school but managed to get into Manchester University. However, I would rather my children not go through the same miserable time that I had. I was called a 'square', 'swot' etc, shunned and insulted just because I simply did not fit in and my outlook and aspiration in life differed enormously from the rest of my class.

My experience too idling. Went to a struggling comp and did well academically but was miserable. Also, as per the report only really socialised with a small bunch of kids with similar backgrounds and was generally considered weird by most of the others. Learnt to keep my head down.

This is why we've opted for private for our dcs. Not because of academic results but for the whole school experience. Don't want them to feel isolated because they read and want to learn and get on with their teachers. Like the way they are stretched in class rather than being given different material or being taught at the lowest common denominator.

Small point but this article is not about 'sink schools' or 'underperforming schools'. Some of you are assuming that, for some reason.

It is about schools that are performing at or under the English average.

Maybe depends on your personal deinfition of underperforming

Just reviving because there was a piece about this in The Economist which suggested that the success of the Middle Class students in the "poor performing" state schools was because the schools themselves were keen to keep these pupils who were likely to do well and improve league tables results. The children were paid more attention and had extension activities arranged for them. Also the parents had to work very hard for their child's success - eg becoming school governores.

That's interesting, Saadia.

I haven't read the whole thread but I know that the headlines came from a fairly small survey (interview based I think) of middle class children in failing comprehensivees.

The rest of the survey looked at how the children did well but didn't integrate with other students. I thought it sounded pretty convincing even though the survey was small.