Private school but 5s,6,7,8S gcse results ?

[ROZ12]

Hi all

I feel proud of my dd for achieving all passes but part of me feels disappointed with the school as I paid so much money and expected her to get 7-9s. Am I being silly? I feel like the classic photo of the girls getting all 9s should have been my dd. At least their investment paid off .

[BertrandRussell]

“They were all exactly the same at any state school my dc attended.“

Your private school has the same demographic as a state school? Sorry- unless you are talking about one of a very few state schools in the country, I don’r believe you.

[LatteLove]

why is it entitled?

Jeez you’ve basically said yourself that he should pass exams because you’ve paid for it even if he doesn’t revise, or does minimal! If that’s not entitled, I don’t know what is, and it looks like it’s filtered down to him, who presumably also thought all he needed to do was turn up to pass. If he’s not very intelligent the school can’t make him something he’s not, just because you pay for it!

[LatteLove]

It just makes me feel the school did not live up to its own ethos of caring and nurturing the individual.

And that’s a bit different and if you feel they haven’t supported him you should speak to them. I’m glad he’s got his future path sorted. The exam Merry go round is a few year away for my kids and I’m already fretting!

[LatteLove]

And sorry, I didn’t mean “not very intelligent” I meant “academic”.

[TinklyLittleLaugh]

Thehouse

A level grades are critical for a vast swathe of university choices and courses. Pretty much all of the ones that are worth doing in terms of leading to a good well paid job.

And because virtually every kid in Britain gets a 2.1 nowadays, A level grades also raise their ugly heads when your new graduate is job hunting. Most decent grad schemes are looking for a minimum of 3 Bs.

Of course you need adequate GCSE grades to pursue the A levels of your choosing.

[TinklyLittleLaugh]

I do wonder how some of these carefully nurtured and tutored kids will do at uni though, if they are requiring so much help to get through their Alevels and Olevels.

[ooooohbetty]

@roisinagusniamh I'm replying because what you said was incorrect. I didn't say the state schools where I lived were good. You thought there would be no children from social housing etc etc. You were were wrong.

[MsTSwift]

Exactly tinkly. We spent yesterday showing dds where dh was at university in laws too. Neither in law went to university themselves they were kind but utterly clueless and uninvolved. Dh got to Cambridge entirely on his own - first person in his family and in his school actually to do so. I do admire the kid he was seeing all this coddling and pushing from parents now.

[Ligresa]

I doubt very much there are travellers at dds school, and the only social housing families are the ones whose children are on the full bursary to change their lives (its a particular bursary for children with difficult home lives who would benefit from full boarding).

When she was at state school there was more of a mix. Hopefully it has taught her to be tolerant and understanding, she certainly seems to be.

But I am not sure why a huge social mix is so desired and necessary tbh.

[Ligresa]

Well, tbf, most students from dds school seem to have very successful outcomes at uni. Far more independent thought encouraged! And as i said upthread, all the tutoring i know about happened in the state sector.

[Grumpyoldpersonwithcats]

DS2 goes to a state school (don't agree with private education for political/ethical reasons).
He is one of the 837 with a clean sweep of 9s (11 subjects) this year, and at least 10 other pupils at his school got more than 5 grade 9s. His results are because he is bright and very driven, and of course the school is obviously good - for example it allowed him to do an extra GSCE (Music) self taught with a bit of teacher support.
His school doesn't have a sixth form so he's moving now, his new (state) school does allow 4 A levels for higher achieving pupils (yes - I know that some private schools support 5).
Delighted that I haven't wasted money on private education to buy results, but I'm not naive enough to think that a private education doesn't make a difference. OP remember that your child has got good results that will let them move onto the next phase with ease. They may well have got poorer results if they hadn't been through the private school system.

[Ligresa]

There is a state school near us, in fact dd3s old school, where someone got 11 x 9s. I am not naive enough to think the school itself had anything to do with it.

[Grumpyoldpersonwithcats]

Ligresa
And I can confirm that DS2 had no private tutoring either. My experience is that it's the private school parents who add in additional private tutors so their children can keep up.

[Ligresa]

I wouldn't dream of suggesting he had. My point was that he's an outlier and no reason to make any judgement about any type of school.

[Grumpyoldpersonwithcats]

But everyone who selects private education over state is making a judgement call about both types of school. (Better results, fewer 'undesirable'
children, better 'pastoral care' etc.)
These assumptions are not universally correct.

[roisinagusniamh]

Me included Grumpy.
But here the state schools tend to be better because they are very well supported by the communities.
Some of the parents do pays tutors to support but that's usually because they want their child to excel.
Mine have done well out of the state system and we never had tutors.
This is why people who send theirs to Private do it for social reasons here and are, therefore seen to be a bit desperate 😀

[cakeisalwaystheanswer]

roisin - are you NI ? There is no upper middle class in NI, in fact I would argue that there is no middle class at all just working class who have made money. NI is so different to SE England that what happens there is completely irrelevant to most posters on MN education.

[TinklyLittleLaugh]

Really? How an there be no middle class? Surely there are doctors and solicitors and other professional people in NI.

Actually, DS’s housemate at uni is from NI, and her and her family seem pretty middle class to me.

[Drabarni]

Bert

The state school children all came from a pretty similar demographic. Not much diversity at all. In fact a quarter of the school worked for the same employer and the rest were all at the same type of level in public sector.
All wc, no mc and certainly no diversity ito non white British.
People from all over the world at my dd school.

[cakeisalwaystheanswer]

You visited tinkly? I have to quite regularly until an aged relative dies and then never again. Outside of Belfast it is like going back 50 years, it is just awful. I have travelled all around the UK including lumps of Scotland as that is where DH comes from and I have never seen anything like NI. I have also never seen anywhere else that paints their kerb stones.

[roisinagusniamh]

Cakes, I live in England.
I am from a middle class background in Dublin.

[roisinagusniamh]

And I know lots of middle class people from NI .....what a hilarious thing to say 😀

[cakeisalwaystheanswer]

I completely stand by my comment becaue I know it's true. Most people who do well in NI academically leave, either to England, USA or the "Free State". Yes of course a few stay as doctors etc but there is very little in the way of work for educated people, over 30% work in the public sector which is much higher than England or Scotland. It is a very odd place and difficult to explain to people who don't know it. I absolutely loathe and detest it and am looking forward to never having to go again.

We probably have different interpretations of middle class.

[zzzzzzzx]

www.theguardian.com/education/2019/aug/24/private-schools-igcse-exams-easier-gcse-university-admissions

[Drabarni]

igcse and GCSE are pretty similar, you don't need to read reports just look at the specs, it's not rocket science.