my son is going to the local bog standard comp

[southeastastra]

is yours? club

Oh the shame shall we celebrate that we have a belief in our children and as us as parents to get the best they can do regardless of the school

Aye to that.
My children are hard working and resilient and I know they will get decent grades.
And then they can do what they like - hairdresser, mechanic, doctor, artist, it's up to them.

(frankly I would be relieved if they trained in a skill, set up a business and got on with it)

One of mine is at the local state middle and he is thriving there. I am not sure why it means he cannot be a vet or a lawyer. 5% of children go to private school, are you seriously suggesting that it is only those children that get As, get into the top universities, and have the best jobs? By their very nature, state middles, uppers and comprehensives are of mixed intake and therefore by their very nature will produce children of varying abilities, including those with special educational needs

DS1 is at a bog standard comp. DS2 goes to a bog standard comp in September. It's what people do here. There are no grammar schools & the closest (i.e. less than a 90 min journey away) private school achieves lower academic results than any of the three bog standard comps we can choose from.

I'm perfectly happy with the schools though. My siblings all went to a local bog standard comp and they are now (in no particular order) a Financial Director, an Orthopaedic Surgeon & a HR Manager. I am less well qualified but that is mainly because I am was a lazy cow. A private education would have been seriously wasted on me .

MOst people do just go to their nearest school really - it's only on MN that this is a bit of a minority activity!

After all, there are more than 7% of the actual population who are well-qualified with good and satisfying careers and a happy life, I reckon, so there must be the odd one or two of the 93% of state educated people who claw their way out of the gutter and carve out a decent life for themselves!

Oh Gawd, now we've got reverse snobbery ("true" comp).

DS1 is at a tiny private school. But I'm trying to persuade him to switch to one of the bog standard local state secondaries. Because I'm sure any of them would provide a more challenging & stimulating education, and many more opportunities than his current school offers.

I don't see how that's reverse snobbery?

ragged
I only used the phrase "true comp" to clarify that what are often thought of as comps next to grammars are nothing of the sort

the intake at DCs school is truly comprehensive - from millionaires outwards
hence why the top sets are interchangeable with the local private schools (literallly, depending on parents finances!)
and the bottom sets are . . . . . . . . .

ragged looking for the "true" comp postin to see what you talking about sign post please and trying to persuade him to change schools if you were so sure that school not good for him why send him to it now always difficult for kids to change schools/friends etc

Presumably there's some sort of false comp on offer, somewhere? Beyond me, anyway (playing my foreigner card again).

ragged we immigrants can wilfully misunderstand each other then

X posts, Notmymum, DS was bullied by his peer group & lacks self-confidence to mix with the same kids or similar again. Probably with good reason (same lot might be just as horrible to him). The one thing this tiny private school does extremely well, that is much tougher to achieve at local state high schools, is pastoral care.

So I am working on DS's confidence. But around here they choose GCSE options in middle of y8, and get the final results back in bits and pieces over yrs9-11, so I am very uncertain how I could integrate DS back; seems like he has to go back at start of y8 or never. (as ever)

ragged
the dribs and drabs approach to GCSEs is going - by the time DD has finished studying hers, it will almost all be exams at the end (like we had!)
Pastoral care CAN be done really well - its worth asking what the systems are.

I think 'true comp' was specified because people use comprehensive wrongly to mean a school where you go if you don't pass the 11+ - which is, by definition, not comprehensive.

A thread that's a 'club' for parents with DC at bog-standard comps... What if someone were to open a 'club' for parents of DC at 'top grammars' or 'public schools'? That would quite rightly be denounced as snobbism. So how is this thread not snobbism in reverse?

fgs it was just trying to be lighthearted. a thread for parents who use the local bog standard or average school. nothing sinister

and there are tons of threads about grammars and independents!

cos we are the vast majority of the population

umeboshi, you are aware, aren't you, that something like 90% of children go to "the school down the road"- in other words, the local comprehensive? It's only on mumsnet that this perfectly normal activity could be classified as " reverse snobbery" A bit like accusing somebody of reverse snobbery because they go to Tesco rather than Waitrose!

What if someone were to open a 'club' for parents of DC at 'top grammars' or 'public schools'?

Happens all the time. Anyhow, this thread isn't a private club is it? AFAIK I've not been booted out though my DD opted not to go to our BSC. We had the rare luxury of choosing between 'real' C and GS because the latter is out of area. (The only significant distorter of intake in our area is the faith schools but they ain't that great and so a lot of people CBA to jump through their hoops.) For most children, a good BSC is better than a long busride to a school with only academic options.

My DN went to her BSC and has a stunning set of GCSEs racked up - sights set on Cambridge.

I think what I want to say is that Tony Blair was a prick who totally missed the point when he denigrated BSCs.... he should have aimed at making every 'Bog Standard Comp' (and the 'Sec Mods' in GS areas) bloody excellent in their own right instead of rearranging deckchairs with academies and pushing 'faith' schools and then Gove propagating 'Free' schools.

I've been told off for posting on private school threads before!

Private schools and grammars are Already an exclusive club!

I've gone right off this thread.

basildonbond I think the point of this thread is two fold,first of all to remind ourselves and others that the majority of MN don't send our DCs to private or Grammar schools and that for most people that isn't an option.

Secondly to say thank you to all the teachers, HT, governors, support staff, parents and pupils who do their best to ensure our local comprehensives remain a viable option for the majority of children.

Given ever changing government targets, poor funding and the sadly unsupportive attitude of some parents and total disinterest in learning of some of the pupils, I think this thank you isn't said nearly often enough.

Thanks for saying that startail. That's what I thought the point of the thread was too.

Yup

My comp had a fabulous music dept - individual free tuition in piano and oboe for me every week - a farm for earth sciences, a boarding wing used mainly by forces families and soc services, a massive playing field, A swimming pool ( which they couldn't afford to fill) drama studios, science labs (with gas taps to be lit, hurrah!) and a truly mixed intake.

When they are well funded, comprehensives can rival the private sector and cope with challenging g pupils too.