grammar that's a bit further away or local accademy?

[workshy]

when I grew up I sat my 11+ and went to the local state grammar

we have a state grammar that we are right on the edge of the catchment area for so the plan has always been for DD (year 5) to sit the entrance exam and hope that she got in the top 2% as then on their entry rules catchment is guaranteed

she will need to practise exam techniques so we were going to start in the next week or 2

but she has announced she wants to go to the local accademy

I have no experience of non selective schools as a whole -we have been to a few events at the school and it seems a very friendly place but does 'very friendly' make a good school

it offers a huge number of vocational courses and BTECs but will some children still do just GCSEs and how much peer pressure do they experience to do the vocational courses? (they do hair and beauty, drama and dance which I can imagine appealing to 14 year old girls)

I know I don't have to decide until the autumn but it's a stretch to fit in the exam coaching if the accademy is going to be good enough (because it's much more convieient than the grammar so no problem if she goes there as long as she is going to get everything she needs)

what do they achieve with their top 60 kids?
Is it a new academy (2011) or a Labour era sponsored one?
how many of the kids go to RG unis?
bear in mind that in a comp only around 40% can ever be realistically expected to get the ebacc
BUT
it is the differentiation that marks out a good comp

my DCs school (a brand new academy) caters for everything from future vets and lawyers to tractor drivers and hole diggers ....

it's a brand new accademy

it's 6 form entry at year 7 but there are only 53 that started year 12 to do A levels -is this a normal number? it seems low to me but we were fed uni from the start of year 7 (wasn't called yr 7 though)
they do have 2 students going to oxbridge this year to study classics/english

they have an on site health and beauty college and very close links to the local building college and while I don't have a problem with this it does make the league tables very hard to interpret

brand new is good - means it was an outstanding school rather than a failed one.
2 oxbridge out of 6 form entry is good (DCs school is 4 oxbridge from 11 forms)
check the numbers to RG unis (should be around three per class so 6 or 7 at your school)

and one third doing A levels - yup thats about right

as I've said on other threads
one third effectively leave education at 16
one third at 18
only the top third carry on to uni

health and beauty - despite being galling to those of us with an academic bent, hairdressing will never be "offshored" and people's hair keeps growing!

and I have no idea how to read value added scores?

Value added
1000 means they did as expected with the kids
over 1000 means they did better than expected
under 1000 means they did worse
and the distance from 1000 can often be explained by the nature of the school (FSM %age etc)
but FSM is being distorted as academies get more funding for FM pupils so are encouraging people to register even if they are borderline

NB
if your child goes to a comp (or academy) they will encounter - if not socialise with - people from all walks of life and aspirations.
I never met thick or unmotivated people till my first job after graduating.
The people currently setting education policy never have - hence the mess they have made of it.

in DDs tutor the academic range is from future vets and barristers to those who will probably be grannies when they are younger than me!
but they are all in school, learning and doing sports and arts and music as well as academic stuff.