When parents are slagging off the local comp...

[Everyoneafter3]

I've posted before about my concerns over the local secondary, which, thanks to comments on this board and an excellent recent Ofsted, are very much allayed. I had a very good read of school newsletters etc and am much happier. Dd1 (Y4) is musically gifted and will also audition for a specialist music school.

The area in which we live is very affluent: many children round here go to fee-paying independent schools. These dc are going to school and telling my dd (and others) that the local secondary is rubbish ("my mum and dad say..."). One particularly stupid parent has said at home that "no child of mind will set foot in x school" which of course is coming back home with our dd.

Dd1 has now got it into her head that the local school is terrible, that she's really upset to go to not a good school, that she wishes we weren't poor (we're not! But no, we can't afford independent school fees without having to sacrifice other stuff we prioritise as a family). She's been researching exam results and all sorts.

For our part we've said well look at any local school she'd like to, although as we live across the road from the school in question it'd be unlikely that she'd get in.

I'm heartily sick of parents telling their dc how awful the local school is. It's simply not fair. My dc won't receive a 'lesser' education. They aren't going to a 'rubbish' school. If this continues I'm tempted to speak to their current primary school tbh. What else can I do? I've told dd to not listen, we've looked at the school website, talked about results (!) but I'm at a loss.

Widening participation traffic was bound to go in the wrong direction once the education cuts began the bite.

I don't know anyone involved that was not warning this.

Where many state sixth forms now offer only three A levels from year 12, reduced subject choices, fewer contact hours and less enrichment, what did anyone with half a brain think would happen?

Is it not concerning to anyone the huge number of Eton and Winchester leavers who all go to one particular college...?

^I stand corrected re Eton. What about Westminster, if you have the stats?
Do you know where we could find them online?^

Alyosha should n't you have tried to find out supporting evidence for your statements before rather than after presenting them as fact. Does n't help your credibility for the rest of what you say.

The cuts haven't bitten fully yet Carl.

Don't goodbye!!!!!

I'm feeling very pessimistic ( unlike me - my mates nick name for me is Pollyanna) after a flurry of emails from colleagues at various universities.

A couple of people who I really admire and have done crucial work in the last few years have pretty much said they're done.

Also, arguing against myself here :) some grammars are ahead of the curve in educational terms, despite funding cuts. Two years ago I was criticized for saying I thought the top grammars who had decided not to do the new spec AS levels were being very sensible (not co-teachable, unis wouldn't use them) indeed one Westminster parent was quite forthright on the subject as I recall, about the poverty of not doing these new exams. Whereas independents are now playing catch up. Still, I agree the funding has a profound impact but this isn't a new disparity, it's an old one and it's deeper than the recent cuts, although it is primarily about funding, not the inherent superiority of independent school kids because while there will always be stars, as a general comment that's straight bollocks. Tutors shouldn't just rollover and ignore either, or be swayed by the politics of grammars.

No the effect of the cuts are nothing like done Carl - nothing like. Believe me I know - and I'm not given to gloom either.

I agree that attention and a sense of injustice should be focussed on the inevitable increasing disparity between state and private provision.
I foresee that more and more MC / educated parents of state school pupils will be resorting to topping up outside school hours the education of their DC such as by extra MFL or tuition in other subjects. That means there will be even more of a two tier education within comprehensives and grammars between those pupils whose parents have the resources and those who don't.

And I recall some grammar school parents stating that the demise of AS would result in state applicants doing better this year.

That refers primarily to the educational effect of the cuts but also the money in the pot Carl, just to reinforce the gloom.

Basilisk I know it was The Wife of Bath as the set text, can't recall which one we read in Lower 6th except that it taught us all the word "quaynte" so it was one of the racier ones!

I think that overall A level students not having done the AS should be better off, across all sectors. Of course with this being the first year of linear, time will tell. I'm not wrong yet!

That was daft of me I read your post wrong about the cuts Carl. I think you mean people are leaving education.

I don't disagree with that goodbye.

I'm not wedded to AS. Never was. My concern was/is that the state sector not doing them, whilst the independent sector continues to do them ( as many are. Schools have not yet abandoned them by a long chalk) is a disparity that just makes things harder.

I never believed the suggestion that without the AS, the state sector would add breadth to year 12. Just as I don't believe who schools who sell 3 A levels from year 12 as a better option.

It's all budget driven. And it's going to have terrible implications. How far the universities must go ( or should go ) to remedy/ mitigate these issues is as much a political decision as a practical one.

sendsummer - "topping up" state education is what parents in France, Germany or Italy have always done. It has its advantages.

I think two years ago it wasn't possible to foresee the way funding has gone, to the extent that it's gone. The idea of linear A levels is good in itself, it will be the lack of funding that strips out breadth. With sufficient funds there would be no problem, indeed there should in theory be marked improvement in the quality of education for the most able students no longer required to do a modular course.

I agree that doing an additional AS in a separate subject would enrich and be a very good thing. It's the way schools (actually in both sectors) clung on the non co-teachable ASs in subjects being studied to A2 that was/ is daft.

bobo I think topping up state education can probably work well where the independent sector is not really independent, but driven centrally in any event in respect of curriculum, exams etc.

But in the U.K. that's not quite the picture ( understatement ).

Why?

I also disagree (as a user of all three sorts of French school - state, secular private, Catholic private) that e.g. French private schools are "state led". They are not. They are very different beasts to state schools. Not the same feel or ethos as a UK independent school, but very different to a state school.

Topping up state education in the UK will over the next few years increasingly mean many parents in London/SE arranging for considerable tutoring for A levels with many parents elsewhere in the country not having much access to suitably qualified tutors.

This is not what topping up state education means in most of Europe.

Also, trying to top up state education on the curriculum side doesn't work effectively if you happen to live in a rural area or a deprived area in the first place where physics specialists etc, versed in the new specifications, are thin on the ground.

I'd be extremely wary of tutoring in any event, even if money were no object.

It's really hard to see how Theresa May is operating for 'ordinary people' if she can't provide even basic funding for their DCs' education.

goodbye I can't speak for all A levels but actually some subjects are fairly co-teachable.

In English for example. The set texts at AS can all pretty much be used at A2. It's not two different sets of texts for AS and A2.

And it still greatly benefits a student to study those texts that are not reusable in A2. There's a good interplay there IMVHO.

I'm not criticising state schools BTW for not pursuing AS. It's just too costly.

Cross post user615. Yes, absolutely.

Finding someone to teach a fourth or fifth A level and then fitting that in would be tough.

There are tutoring colleges that do it, but charge almost as much as private school.

The fairest way to do it would be to use self employed teachers in school (e.g. MFL teachers for small group language classes) as is already done for in school instrumental teachers, but for the school to pay for those pupils whose parents are below a certain income threshold.

Anecdotal evidence is that disproportionate numbers from ~Westminster go to Christ's Church - and the fact that one of the members of Westminster's governing body is the dean of Christ's Church would seem to back this up.

They have a historical connection; they run alumni events for whole years there - seems to be a pretty strong anecdotal connection to me. I'm sure I'll find some harder data somewhere.

Christ's church has the lowest level of state students, so again, a sign that they accept more than their fair share of private school students - perhaps due to their connection to Westminster.

At least no one is denying they have a connection to Westminster!

On tutoring - a large proportion of kids at private schools will also have tutors.

And on A levels - don't many top privates already do the Pre-U which is very similar in format to linear A levels. Wasn't this also supposed to give them an advantage at admissions (many people using it to explain why state schools were at a disadvantage)?

It's sad that schools will be limiting pupils to just 3 A levels, which will definitely disadvantage them, especially exceptional candidates. Having said that, plenty of oxbridge students get in with just 3 A levels. The main issue will be the missing AS level's UMS score...