Not going to be Oxbridge material

[BlogOnTheTyne]

DS2 has always had his heart set on going to Oxbridge - along with some other very fixed aims for his life. He's only 11 and has high functioning Asperger's (hence the fixed goals/ beliefs thing) and so far done v well academically.

New senior school has recently assessed all the Yr 7 intake. DS2 falls within only the third quartile in ability for this very academic school.

The school sends a lot of students to Oxbridge from the 6th form but this means that they only 'support' the absolute creme de la creme in applications. At another kind of school, DS2 may have had some chance at least of applying. But he won't be in that cohort at this school.

I was lucky, several decades ago - to be at a school that had never sent anyone to Oxbridge. They put me forward and I got in, purely, I think, because the college that accepted me - and the university at that time - wanted to show that they gave places to people with a potential a chance but from schools that didn't 'prepare' you for Oxbridge.

By investing in DS2s education, I'm actually going to be putting him at a disadvantage. He'll be coming from a school known for its academic success and Oxbridge/Russell group Uni success.

I suppose I have several choices available to me across the next few years:

Help DS2 to see that he can be happy even if he doesn't achieve one of his 'rigidly fixed' life aims (probably the most important aspect of this whole thing anyway).

Take him away from this school where he's really, really happy and already doing well and put him in a school where he may have a better chance to aim for Oxbridge and be in the very top few in his cohort.

Work with the school, across the years, to hope they'll support him with what he wants to do - and begin now on that track.

I get the impression that they've already categorised the 11 yr olds and will get from each of them what they now expect.

Has anyone else had children in the same position? What have you done to help the situation? Did you just 'bow' to the opinion of where your child ranks in the class cohort and let go of trying to enable your child to achieve their goals, if these are unrealistic, in the context of that kind of school?

Blog I think you have a point re: early tests to assess ability. Yes, they are there as a safeguard to spot anomalies between potential & performance but I think cognitive bias can be a consequence. I believe they can be limiting in some situations - there is an expected academic trajectory from KS1.

If I as a teacher have access to data that predicts the 'raw intellect' of my pupils this is likely to influence how bright I think they are on one level which could subconsciously influence how I teach them - perhaps giving the known v bright the benefit of the doubt. There has been a lot of research into this sort of thing. Ultimately I have data which tells me who has the most potential - although I might know it's not foolproof it's likely to influence me on some level.

By GCSE it's true some children are marked out for Oxbridge - I know one school well where they hold Oxbridge prep classes where advice is given on course & even expert advice on best college.

Having said all of that your son is in a very fortunate position - he's got into a highly selective school, they know he's academic. You also seem to be clued up. Try to get him to focus a bit more widely & explore other options & universities etc. It's such early days.

yellowtip I was being simplistic, but being the child of a single parent can be a mitigating circumstance, especially if it has also meant that there has been poverty, emotional trauma, ill health, abuse, caring responsibilities etc. There is however a world of difference between that and parents having had a divorce where the children have been protected from trauma, as you would hope would happen with a "run of the mill" divorce (that is probably for another thread!!) or where a single parent has provided a stable and supportive family home.

The main point is that the subsequent performance of the students who are being recruited as a result of all the initiatives to reach into deprived communities and schools that have a poor record of sending children to universities suggest that we are still far from having leveled the playing field to the extent that children from selective schools are being disadvantaged.

There can be very few teachers in good secondary schools who would take the results of MIDYS type tests over and above their own observations of a student's work. I think, (just from experience) that the trajectory/cognitive bias thing is more likely to be seen at primary level.

All school which send students to higher education have, every year, seen examples of students getting into good universities where they were not necessarily expected to (and sometimes where the teachers know they were very lucky indeed - by A Level, teachers have a good idea of the intellectual capacity of their students).

The more students they have who are performing well, the more often they will see this. Few know better than Sixth Form teachers what a lottery admissions can be. The opposite also happens with strong candidates who do not get expected offers.

Teachers are not there to limit children's horizons. I don't believe the attitude you fear will come about if your son develops intellectually. They will probably try to wean him off the idea that Oxbridge is the only place for him for his own sake but the idea that they will prevent him applying if he is within the ball park is odd and (in a good school) mistaken.

The fact you have gone to Oxbridge could disadvantage him too!! My DC's tick every other box re disadvantage as things stand now BUT not the one where no parents have been to uni. !! is very young too & no matter how much "social engineering" goes on, I am sure your child stands as much chance as he ever did of going to Oxbridge!

"The fact you have gone to Oxbridge could disadvantage him too"

No it won't. What it might do is not "advantage" him in the way it undoubtedly once would have done.

Support him in his aspirations. He's got a plan....trust that he can achieve it. Get him a tutor and work with school.

And congratulations on your academic and ambitious boy. My best friends son is currently being assessed for Aspergers and he's also bright...posts like yours are very encouraging. I will be telling my friend all about your DS.

Blog presumably if he's this dead set on Oxford or Cambridge he knows which one and which course?

"Support him in his aspirations. He's got a plan....trust that he can achieve it. Get him a tutor and work with school."

Just to put the alternative point- support him in his aspirations, but broaden his horizons. Help him see that there are other paths. Don't get him a tutor- he's already in a very academic school. I'm guessing that what he needs is to be encouraged to do other things too. Scouts, sailing club, archery, handbell ringing..........whatever.

Blog presumably if he's this dead set on Oxford or Cambridge he knows which one and which course?

Yes, that seemed an odd ambition to me as well. Surely, it would be one or the other.

He's 11! Have you missed that bit?

Schools get this wrong all the time. At 15 the school I was at felt I might struggle to even get into a polytechnique (I know I'm old). I changed schools after GCSE (there you go I am in a narrow band of about 3 school years) got three As at A level accepted on to the most competitive course at the time. Eventually left with two degrees one from one of the Top 6 Unis in the world (2:1). Now I run my own business turning over three quarters of a million a year employing 17 staff.
My parents only told me this prediction 5 years ago as they believed you should take away someones dream and that children only achieve what is expected of them.
Show him my story. The original school are so embrassed they deny I even attended the school! Despite having GCSE certificates with their name on.