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

Hi Morethan . Lovely to hear from you again!

I am currently halfway through DD102 with the OU Introducing the Social Sciences. My current plan is to complete this module and the next level 1 module next year . I will then think about going to a University to study a Degree in social Sciences, Which area I don't know yet ?.

I am "trapped" in Kent as you know and despite wanting to move cannot.

talkin what confuses me is that half the posters on the education sections on here are always stating that their local state school offers the same opportunities as independent schools, does this not apply to fencing?
Fencing is not the only 1 to 1 sport there are of course others e.g. tennis and fencing was offered at DS1's state school but it only has 25 out of 1300 on FSM so perhaps that explains it.

I find it quite unbelievable that any state school has an "Equestrian Team" who stables the horses ?.

There is one irony to a "posh" state school having an Equestrian team. That is they will be be the "Plebs" when competing against the likes of Eton/Wycombe Abbey.

'the town that Tesco has the highest market share is Perth with 60% the lowest is Harrogate with just 1% which probably means that Tesco target more socially mixed areas for placement of their stores'

Tesco's don't have a store in Harrogate, but it is certainly not for the want to trying!

The 1% share must come from a delivery service then !.

Some of the schools on the list are in areas of the country that are incredibly affluent and where poor people have been completely priced out of the housing market (there are huge restrictions on development). There aren't going to many candidates for FSM in their catchments.

I remember your Social Studies now, and the trapped in Kent.
We should formulate an escape party.
Me and dh alternate the itchy feet for a move but just recently we have both agreed, so if dd passes second audition and goes off to school and with ds1 left now we should be able to downsize and move to Cheshire/Manchester.
Anywhere but the East Lancs area.

Smoke

Hate to say this but a few years ago Manchester was the best place in the country to study SS, I was accepted on the Masters and almost started but then dd decided she wanted to be H.ed and told us of her grand master plan, knowing her chances for a decent education here I had to agree.
It was only for interest with me though, so nothing lost really.
Not sure if it is still up there in terms of reputation but do check it out.

my ds goes and my dds went to an excellent comprehensive (not listed here), we don't live in the catchment but dd was selected on musical ability, she was not picked to do music at primary school so I paid for private lessons and luckily a relative had the instrument needed as we were struggling financially and didn't qualify for hiring an instrument from the counci.

We are somewhere in the middle regarding income. Alot of people whose dc are at these schools are not necessarily affluent. you have to be on very low income for FSM but there are still lots of ordinary people out there too who struggle financially.

There's an article in Tatler mentioning Borlase's equestrian team:

[[SIR WILLIAM BORLASE'S GRAMMAR SCHOOL (Buckinghamshire)
PUPILS 1,031 boys and girls, aged 11-18
Girls turn down places at Wycombe Abbey to go to Borlase's. 'You are swept up by the sense of pride the pupils have in their school,' says a parent. Head Dr Peter Holding has been at the helm since 1997 and teaches every child during their first year. Entry is selective: prospective pupils sit the Bucks County Council tests, with more than four applicants for every place at 11-plus - those living within the catchment area get priority. The academic results are exceptional - 83 per cent A*-B at A-level last year - with particular strength in maths and the sciences. Sport is also outstanding: the hockey club was coached by members of the GB Olympic team and the rowing club compete internationally. There's also a brilliant equestrian team. Oh, and superlative performing arts too - a pupil is one of the current leads in the West End production of Billy Elliot.

Read more at www.tatler.com/news/articles/january-2014/the-tatler-guide-to-state-schools---part-two#ka1B77l0F71zb8V5.99]]

When DS was there quite a few of his friends were in the equestrian team. They all have their own stabling of course.

Happygardening
THe sporting opportunities at state and fee paying schools are different.
Not many State schools have Fives teams.
Then again the bigger state schools by sheer force of numbers can churn through the multiple squads in team sports to get the results.

When I did tennis in the PE lessons we were 8 to a court and one teacher to 30 (private school)
When DCs did it at comp school it was exactly the same.

DDs college has both Equestrian and skiing teams - but then its huge and has a rather affluent catchment!

Went to look round one of the schools on the list a couple of years ago when DS was coming to the end of primary school. I was really struck by just how affluent the surrounding area looked, on top of which I know that there is a hefty 'prospect of free grammar school education' premium on house prices there. It just would be very difficult for a lower income family to find suitable accommodation in the catchment area.

It seems a shame to me that one of the few remaining state grammars in the country is in the middle of a leafy suburb, where the sort of people that grammar schools were originally intended for, could never afford to live.

I'm not surprised at all that the particular school in question has made it onto the 'most socially selective' list.

As it happens, my DS did not sit the entrance exam for that school and is now at an independent school. His current school ploughs a lot of money into its bursary scheme that provides boys from lower income families the opportunity to attend if they pass the entrance exam and qualify for financial help. Up to 100% of the fees can be paid from the bursary fund. Other private schools have similar schemes.

I don't know what the free school meal figures are for DS's school, but I'm inclined to think that this private school might be doing as much for social mobility as the state school mentioned earlier!

I'm not saying that bursary schemes in independent schools is the answer. I don't know what is. But state grammar schools seem to have turned into an opportunity for a good free education - but only if you are rich. And that can't be right.

Not many State schools have Fives teams.

Not many private schools have Fives teams either. Because not many schools have Fives teams.

Not many schools teach the ocarina, serpent, spoons or washboard either.

There will always be a rare sport, instrument or hobby that is hard to find in any school, or indeed in any club at all.

On a related note, The Independent has picked up this story from Tatler today;

www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/notoriously-elitist-magazine-tatler-selects-its-acceptable-staterun-schools-9953460.html

"Panicking devotees of the magazine can nonetheless rest easy that little Rupert or Hermione are not being asked to rough it in the playgrounds of Peckham or Slough."

Is it just me that finds it "appalling" and totally inappropriate for a state school to associate it self to an equestrian team!.

For gods sake, we have the numbers of people needing to use foodbanks growing daily yet we have a "State School" actively promoting a sport that is unavailable to the vast majority.

I found it sickening to read people/media stating this as a benefit of attending a certain school . P.S I come from a very "Tory" background . I think after reading this, the world of politics is no longer Black and White but very grey in nature.

smokepole
But if the school was in a rural area, where half the kids had paddocks and ponies of the scruffy little cob variety, not pony club then engaging with an activity that the kids do out of school makes sense.

as happy rightly said, owning horses is by no means the preserve of the rich - many of the breeders of the ponies are on below average incomes.

smoke you are letting your uniformed prejudices get the better of you. As talkin said in rural farming areas ponies and horses are common and relatively cheap to keep. Would you say the same thing if a school in a rural community had a cattle showing team? I doubt it. Cattle can be as equally expensive to purchase as an average child's pony and like horses require land to graze of, and relatively expensive feed.
Also the sort of mega expensive competition horses/ponies your think of with associated with facilities etc are I can tell you from experience are unlikely to lower themselves to being part of the schools equestrian team.

It's ot an inclusive sport by any stretch of the imagination and I absolutely agree that state education should aim for inclusivity.

smoke you are letting your uniformed prejudices get the better of you. As talkin said in rural farming areas ponies and horses are common and relatively cheap to keep. Would you say the same thing if a school in a rural community had a cattle showing team? I doubt it. Cattle can be as equally expensive to purchase as an average child's pony and like horses require land to graze of, and relatively expensive feed.

Huh? I lived in a village where the traveller DC were as likely to ride as the DC of the upper middles. That doesn't make it an accessible 'open to all' activity. It is a minority an activity and not a desperately cheap one. Most people are not land-owners or even small-paddock-owners, even in rural areas

Arsenic
Not all sports include all pupils.
What state schools should do is try to find sports that between them include all the pupils
which is why comps go for rock wall and trampolining and basketball : sports that can be enjoyed by the non sporty

if its a rural school in an agricultural area, ponies are as inclusive as swimming for example, and smell better than beef cattle

I think that smokepole has a very valid point though and living in rural areas for 12 years and knowing the areas very well didn't know any working class/poor kids to have ponies or horses.
It was the middle classes and farmers with much land who could afford this for their dc.
So whilst it may not be rich pony club type you still had to have land and money to keep a pony.

I can't comment on where you live arsenic but where I live which is a big farming area, primarily livestock many farmers children have ponies. Farmers children go to school and if there is enough of them to form an equestrian team representing the school what is wrong with that? Maybe they have like me when at school they have at best little and realistically no interest in hockey rounders or netball and thus feel excluded and on the edge and being part of a school equestrian team would make them feel more included. I very much doubt the school is financially contributing to the equestrian team so what's the problem with it?

What's next a state school associating itself to a "Racing Car" team where young 14/15 year old pupils can learn to become racing drivers at a cost of £30k per season!. I bet it already happens.....

Talkinpeace. A breeder might be quite "poor" and his/her livelihood might be dependant on selling ponies or horses. (I have been friends with International Equestrian Riders so know how much it /they costs 100-150k Pa)
Seriously though In no way can anyone who is not well or very well off, even afford to stable horses feed ,pay for horse boxes or travel to local Equestrian events without having a very large disposable income indeed!.

It would though be great to see these "Princesses" get trounced by the children of the sellers from the "Appleby " horse fairs !.