Petition against grammar school expansion

[JaneJefferson]

Sign the petition if you disagree with the roll out of new grammar schools and the poorer education that will be forced onto the majority who do not pass to get into them.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/164270

I will be signing, on the basis that some children are late blossomers. It is grossly unfair that such children should be written off at 10/11. Yes, some children are not academic, and more suited to vocational/technical courses - and there's nothing wrong with that - but that is not always apparent so young. I believe in lifelong learning and opportunity, not pigeon-holing at a young age. The need to allow more academic children the opportunity to learn at a faster pace can be perfectly well provided by streaming within schools. As far as I can see the reintroduction of grammar schools will be a regressive step.

Let's be open minded! Come on! You are not being serious!
Everybody's experience is different, we are all different!
The petition is not helpful in my opinion sounds very grudge holding.
Sorry.

MaQueen Some kids might be highly able in only one subject but weak in others and therefore need to have access to both top and middle sets - the gifted mathematician who cannot spell or the dyslexic writer for example There was an article in the Guardian recently by a journalist who said he would have failed the 11+. He was poor at maths and Science and yet "world class" at History.

You cannot separate the academic from the non academic by a test at age 11. Many able children will fail by one or two marks - would you mind if that were your child? I would. I wouldn't want my child to be branded a failure at 11. It would therefore be wrong of me to say it's fine for other people's children. Yes, some kids will be better served by a more vocational education but this shouldn't be decided by one dodgy test at the age of 11.

It's not a choice though!!! Not as simple as that.

article

Lol this is one of the most redicilious things I've ever seen in here.

Guardian article www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/08/grammar-schools-may-brexit-divisive

Blue okay, so some children might only be 'very able' in one subject. That's fine.

However, grammar schools are for children who are 'very able' in every academic subject.

Are we describing everyone in the top 20% as "very able"? Some might be top 1% in one subject yet average at others. What about the top 21% or top 30% (at age 11). Would they be better served by having the top 20% removed from their school and then by being given a more vocational education?

Signed. Grammars are a terrible thing.

Well, they're certainly more able than the other 80%.

I can only speak from my experience, but both my DDs are equally strong at science subjects and humanity subjects. So are their friends. They're all strong all rounders.

If they were kept in a comprehensive they would be in all the top sets. So, as I understand it, they wouldn't ever be in the same lessons as the less able pupils, anyway.

So, what difference does it make if they're having lessons in a different building?

"So, what difference does it make if they're having lessons in a different building?" Exactly! It won't make any difference to them but it will make a difference to the more able students in the middle sets who will have the chance to move up to the top sets - even if it's only in one subject. They too deserve the chance to excel and be with a like-minded peer group.

There will be a Green Paper with the policy details issued on Monday.

Better than signing a petition would be to respond to the Green Paper consultation with details of objections to the proposals.

The DfE will have to read all the responses, and the responses will be published.

I was at a talk by Nick Gibb (Schools Minister) this morning. He could not have come across as less enthusiastic about the proposals.

So, what difference does it make if they're having lessons in a different building?

Exactly. Why waste time, money and effort in building a new building just for your DC to have the same lessons in them? That money could go on much more productive things, like school budgets which are facing massive cuts.

Keep us posted about when the Green Paper is out, Noble. I will respond to the consultation.

They can move up to the very top of their 'middle' set, surely.

It isn't a perfectly fair system. No system is. How fair is it that a super bright kid is stuck with the shitty, local sink comp just because their parents can't afford to move into the catchment of the naice leafy comp?

Why should anybody be stuck in a shitty, local sink comp? It will probably do less damage to the super bright than anyone else.

Make every school a Grammar School.

I am more angry about the plan to expand religious schools tbh. That will really help integration and cohesion, won't it?

I was that super-bright student, MaQueen, stuck in a bog-standard comprehensive. I still managed to get to Cambridge, despite coming from a home with two parents who did not have a single qualification between them. Yes, there were times when I wished lessons were more stretching, but I was able to pursue higher level learning outside of school, off my own bat.

My mother, also super-bright, ended up at a crap secondary modern that did not even offer the chance to take CSEs, purely because she was so nervous on the day that she flunked her 11 plus. It changed the course of her whole life. That cannot be right. Grammar schools will just reduce social mobility even further, I'm afraid. I don't feel the many should be sacrificed for the few. Why not provide extra lessons for the super-bright within comps and academies? The same outcome is reached for the top set, without ensuring the other 80% suffer life-blighting detriment.

I would sign the petition for one reason only. I have two ds at grammar school, y7 and y9. Not sure when impacts will kick in, but would not want their GCSEs disrupted by our school having to buddy up with another school, and thus overlook the grammar children. Sorry.

I will definitely respond to the green paper. Will it be easy to find out how to take part in the consultation?

Grammar schools: the wrong solution to an unclear question! Far more pressing serious issues with education, mostly caused by the government.

god i blame mn for the whole bring back grammar school crap

it's just mental

Portico 's post demonstrates how division breeds division.

I most definitely won't be signing. Having visited three local grammars in the last few months, they are full of kids from working class backgrounds, with parents who are striving for better for their children. What's wrong with that?!
I definitely do want more grammars. The entrance requirements for the few there are are not so ridiculous that some very able children are missing out.
If you went to a comprehensive and went on to Cambridge - brilliant. But the sad truth is that there are a lot of children being pulled down to the lowest common denominator in comprehensives, and are not getting the education they deserve.

I emailed my MP this morning and asked him to vote against this. (He is a conservative.) It will be interesting to see his reply, our constituency is fully comprehensive and pretty much all of the schools are good/outstanding and get excellent results. No one wants selection around here, no angst about the 11 plus, just a certainty of a good school and generally some choice as well.