'Gromps' and the odious Toby Young

[noblegiraffe]

Toby Young has a face that I would never tire of slapping, but he has been tweeting about some fairly remarkable results published by the latest Free Schools to get through Y11.

www.newschoolsnetwork.org/what-are-free-schools/free-school-news/free-schools-celebrate-gcse-results

A Gromp is a comp with a grammar ethos.

Having done particularly well is Reach Feltham
"Reach Academy Feltham, a free school that opened in 2012 in one of London’s most deprived areas, saw 96% of its students get grade 4 or above in English and maths (the equivalent of C or above in the old system). In addition, 80% obtained 5 or above in English and 9% got the top grade in maths (grade 9), three times the predicted national average"

Well done to those schools. Some aren't even in London!

"A face I would never tire of slapping"

There are bright children in the provinces you know!

What were the ebacc results at the west London? Were they below average?

Cap’n Bellend’s West London Free* school had terrible Ebacc figures. Only 38% of his kids reached the threshold.

• It cost north of £20 million.

There are bright children in the provinces you know!

I think the point is that you shouldn't need to be 'bright' to get a C in English and Maths, no matter what school you go to, or how deprived the area.

The thing about these 'gromps' is that they are different from most schools. They deliberately create a culture and strict rules to get kids, including 'average' kids, to focus on: a) working unusually hard and aiming high, starting from Year 7; and b) behaving well, so that they can get the most out of their time in the classroom.

The effects of this can be seen in the unusually good GCSE results, but there are a lot of people who are very opposed to this model.

There are bright children in the provinces you know!

Yes, but the usual charge at these schools getting good results is that they are in London which gets a much higher level of funding than the rest of the country.

Of course Free Schools get money thrown at them, but the one in Bradford would be getting less than the one in Feltham.

Feltham never used to be deprived - what's happened to it in the last few years?

I know this is an old thread but does anyone know if this gromp is still a good thing?I am intrigued