The most Socially Selective schools in England.

[smokepole]

Here is a list of the most socially selective state schools in England , total no of pupils entitled to free school meals over the last six years. Dept Of Education Characteristics

1. Cranbrook School Kent 5
2. Borlase Grammar Bucks 5
3. Bishop Words Wilts 7
4. Pate's Grammar Gloucs 8
5. Colchester Royal Essex 10
6. Caistor Grammar Lincs 10
7. King Edward Louth Lincs 10
8. Adams Grammar Shrop 11
9. Colchester High Essex 12
10. Kendrick Grammar Berks 12
11. Dr Challinor High Bucks 12

12. Alyesbury Gram Bucks 13 12. Beaconsfield High Bucks 13 12. Newport High Shrop 13 15. Stratford Gram Warks 14 15.Skinners Sch Kent 14 17.Chelmsford High Essex 15 17. Judd Sch Kent 15 17. St Olaves Kent 15 20. Alcester Gram Warks 16 21. Tonbridge Gram Kent 17 22. Kegs Chelms Essex 19 22. Lancaster Girls Lancs 19 24. Skipton High Yorks 20 24. Tunbridge W Gir Kent 20 26 Hockerill Anglo Essex 21 27. Ripon Gram Yorks 22 27. Ermysteds Yorks 22 29. Altrincham Boys Ches 23 30. St Bernards Slough Berks 24

When I first arrived in the UK I had to report to the police every month as a registered alien. That went on for a couple of years.
We immigrants get very bored of you lazy locals

handcream I doubt any of the migrants found floating this morning in the Med have private health insurance!!!

Back to the OP - having looked through those lists, it really is incredible and depressing that in this day and age we have some state schools which have no poor pupils and some state schools where 3 out of 4 pupils are poor.

I mean - how does that happen? It's absolutely indefensible.

Yep. DS went to the second on the list (5 pupils out of over 1,000, over a six year period), and that number doesn't surprise me at all.

So many of his friends had not just a tennis court or swimming pool, but both.

And there's an equestrian team as well as a good rowing and a fencing team. It's another world to where he is now (gritty Northern University where he's meeting a much more healthy mix of people).

I work at one of these schools. Previously worked in another and studied at one myself.
One of the reasons locally to us for the lack of diversity, is that students no longer sit the exam in their primary schools like I did. We do a lot of work encouraging a wider range of students to enter but they don't. Threads like this put people off applying. There are a plenty of normal pupils at grammar schools. Neither of my parents had been to university and only one of my school friends could be called rich - and his family wasn't loaded!
I'm all up for encouraging more people to apply! We've made some changes recently which we hope will achieve this. To anyone reading this don't be put off applying. Not everyone who gets in has been tutored within an inch of their lives!

Mumblechum. If pupils at some state schools come home to swimming pools and tennis courts, I dread to think how much have kids got at the most expensive private schools ?.

The inequality that is evident from this list is quite frankly shocking these are state schools for gods sake.They are not supposed to be bastions of privilege . Thankfully DS and DD2s grammar are nothing like you have described. This is despite being more economically affluent than surrounding schools they are still relatively mainstream in terms of family affluence.

I'm always surprised that fencing is often equated with independent schools/or socially selective schools. It doesn't appear to require any specific facilities and the equipment also does not astronomically expensive.

As someone who wasted 40 years on horses they too are not always owned by the wealthy.
It's so easy to stereotype.

I'm always surprised that fencing is often equated with independent schools/or socially selective schools. It doesn't appear to require any specific facilities and the equipment also does not astronomically expensive.

Easy. Its a one on one sport.
When you have 300 kids in a year group, team sports are much less staff and resource hungry.
How many teachers would be the safe limit for 30 kids of mixed abilities armed with pointy metal things?

Someone mentioned Ripon Grammar upthread, and I have knowledge of the school over a few generations. It isn't a city (albeit must be one of the smallest in the UK!) with a lot of pupils with FSM anyway, no Tesco, or Waitrose, but a big Morrisons and medium Sainsburys but in the past there was little tutoring, parental or otherwise. It really wasn't part of the local culture in the way it is in Grammar School areas like Kent and Bucks, it isn't the end of the world if you don't get into the Grammar because there are other good comp options for most parents in Boroughbridge / Harrogate. Now however the culture is taking hold and the recent admissions rounds have been far more fevered and tutoring is on the rise, the pupils getting in from local primaries are the ones from savvy families who have cottoned on to the trend and so social (or at least having switched on parents) exclusivity is definitely on the increase.

Very few of our students are ridiculously affluent. Most are normal. Some are struggling.
People assuming grammars are full of rich people puts them off applying. It really shouldn't.

I am a form tutor. I listen to my students. The ones who are affluent/with big houses often host the after show parties. I have also spoken to/empathised with many students unable to go on trips they would love to go on.
I know things because the students trust me and speak to me. Sorry if you think it's strange.

I don't know specifics about finances obviously! People were referring to is being full of people with swimming pools etc. It's just not true.

Hello Smokepole

Have you considered doing a degree in education, I don't necessarily mean a PGCE, you seem really interested in this stuff and very knowledgable?
You could use one of your thread topics for your dissertation.
I am serious btw, not at all sarcy here. x

Well as you know we have no Waitrose and only a smallish Sainsbury on the outskirts heading towards m6

We do have Morrisons, Tesco, Asda, Lidl and Aldi.
As you know we don't have private or grammar schools and kids here have to make do with what they have.
There are some good state schools but many are/have been failing and I don't know any outstanding, although one that is on one of the lists above was at one time.
Even with this in mind several children make it to Oxbridge each year, but they are usually front page news round here.

interestingly the 'comp' that my children attended in the poorest part of the UK also offered skiing in America as the year 8 trip. I was furious and even thought it might be a way to identify the 'naice' children, in my moments of fury. FGS we are talking about an area where an awful lot of kids do not even have passports.
and yet while this school is the nearest thing to a genuine comp I have come across, not all children are offered the same learning opportunities, quite apart from the expensive trips, for example only a selected handful are offered musical instrument lessons.

The cuts to music education are indeed criminal and short sighted!

Tough. I think the school that has cricket tours to Barbados, is one or the other that an ex England Cricketer attended and then made a load of money from "Gold Mining" who is married to an author ?.

In so many ways both those school/s are almost "public schools"

yes it made me v cross doctordonaa, the only ones to be offered musical instrument lessons were those who were recommended by their local primary school.
Anyone else or those who had just moved into the area, could stuff orf