Oxfordshire votes to reject grammar schools

[noblegiraffe]

Oxfordshire County Council has voted to reject any plans for new grammar schools with only 14 out of 63 councillors in favour of their reintroduction.

Apparently a Conservative councillor had told the local paper that Oxfordshie would be first in the queue to apply for new grammars, prompting the vote.

www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/oxfordshire-first-council-reject-mays-grammar-school-plan

Quite so Pandapumpkin. A theory that I have heard expressed by a former Oxfordshire head teacher is that economic considerations were, in part, behind the decision to convert to comprehensives in the first place. As the baby boom children left school there were lots of already fairly small schools with spare places which became increasingly unviable. This was then dressed up with suitable educational theories - initially Oxford City went for a Middle School system, which was one outcome of the Plowden Report, of there being a distinct middle phase.

www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/14753256.Oxfordshire_education_boss_steps_back_from_reintroducing_grammar_schools_after_losing_vote

Hot off the press. However the Council member in favour of selection still seems to think it could be re-introduced. Whatever happened to democracy people?

If May's govt change the law on this, I do not understand how an LA could prevent an academy or free school becoming selective.
That said, perhaps there are no academies or free schools in that LA, unlikely nowadays though.

Any It can't but it makes it much easier for local campaigners to argue against it. The government would have to justify imposing secondary moderns when there is a clear mandate against them.

Perhaps they had a vote at this stage to put down a marker?

Given that school in Kent is already consulting parents to convert to a grammar by 2018, I expect they thought they needed to move fast to close down the avenue of discussion.

I hope Surrey doesn't reintroduce grammars. Dd goes to a Surrey comp which we are happy with. There are a lot of good comps in Surrey where there no grammars.

So it will remain the preserve of the better off in Oxfordshire, who can pay, to have their kids educated in an academically selective school. Nothing beats a bunch of lefties voting to preserve the isolated privilege of the higher paid! I am one of those right now, and it irks that relatives in Kent have free access to grammar schools.

They don't have free access to grammar schools. Some of them are allowed by the grammar schools to send their kids there, the vast majority aren't and have to send their kids to secondary moderns, more of which are failing schools than any other area in the country. Hardly anything to be jealous of!

free = not having to pay. You're muddling the point by pretending I meant that free = open. The point was that not allowing state grammars preserves the privilege of the better off to access a selective education, with the more academically focused curriculum that suits bright kids.

My school turned from a grammar to a comp in 3rd year. Over time it ruined a great school. The neglect of secondary moderns, and the bigger failure to create the 3rd leg technical schools originally envisioned, will remain a serious issue, but it's not a reason to not allow bright kids to access a tailored education irrespective of the wealth of their parents.

Roguedad. Please come and help us grammar advocates on the other threads.

At times it's likes '1879' 'Zulu Dawn' and being at Rouke's Drift in Natal, trying to put up a defence against thousands of the sods.

but it's not a reason to not allow bright kids to access a tailored education irrespective of the wealth of their parents.

Except they overwhelmingly allow in kids of better off parents and the poor kids are shunted off in droves to the secondary modern where they get a worse education than they would in a comp area.

Everybody keeps saying 'better off rich or advantaged' but no one has actually defined what this means other than family income greater than £15,600 PA.

noble: the secondary moderns in Kent might be worse than comprehensives, but as I have said on other threads, plenty of Secondary Moderns in Bucks have GCSE results (and A level results) many comps would die for! You cannot say they are all the same - comps or secondary moderns! It is however true that few poor children get to any grammar schools. Ofsted have the stats on this and it is the reason Sir Michael Wilshaw spoke out so strongly about the idea that grammar schools aid social mobility - they just don't!

IT usually means children not on FSM. The only measure of social deprivation that is used is FSM or now Pupil Premium. This can be a blunt measure, but advantaged is very difficult to quantify. Most grammar schools have way below the average number of FSM children in non selective schools.

What we don't know is how many grammar school families have incomes of between £16,000 to £22,000 PA . Arguably these families could be worse off than families getting FSM and other benefits.

You cannot just base advantage or disadvantage on an arbitrary line , it is far more complex than that.

plenty of Secondary Moderns in Bucks have GCSE results (and A level results) many comps would die for!

I just looked up a random secondary modern with 70% pass rate. It has 20% high attainers, 17% low attainers and the rest middle ability.

I then looked at a 'comp' in Kent with 40% pass rate. 3% high attainers, 38% low attainers and the rest middle ability.

So I'm guessing that those secondary moderns in Bucks have intakes that the comps in Kent would die for.

Sandy it's probably reasonable to assume that a school that has higher FSM also has higher numbers of low earners than a school with very few FSM.

roguedad - At least you are being honest - grammars = saving on school fees. If you were in Kent you might still have to pay, if your kids didn't get into the Grammars.

BTW last time I looked (i.e. yesterday) Oxfordshire County Council was Tory.

An argument in Bucks is that since relatively few in-county children get into the Grammars, (the Aylesbury ones are usually mentioned), the Sec Mods have a higher than expected percentage of high ability children.

sandyholme are you also in favour of faith schools?

Yes i am in favor of faith schools, providing they don't become places preaching 'violence' hate or intolerance towards other religions .

sandyholme is it likely that a school would have a very low FSM but a very high % of £16,000 to £22,000 income earners?

Would the DCs in the £16,000 to £22,000 household income bracket outperform all their peers at primary school?

sandyholme Wed 21-Sep-16 22:44:03 Yes i am in favor of faith schools

Do you mind if I ask why?