Grammar results - what do you think please

[schooling123]

Sorry again for the post about grammar, please may I ask for advice on the performance of this grammar:

It is confusing for me, as there are different 4-9 and 5-9 brackets...

SCHOOL 1 (Grammar by coach)
98% of students gained 5 or more grades at grade 5 or higher
61% of all grades being at grade 9-7
Every student passed English AND maths
48% of students gained 8 or more grades 9-7



Comparing with School 2 ( comprehensive) - local
2018 result
66% 5-9 GCSE English and Maths (2018), do not not know results of all subjects to compare to school 1
85% 4-9 GCSE English and Maths (2018)

[titchy]

And think of all those unsuitable children he’ll gave to share a lunch queue with.

That's the key thing i suspect. Needing to avoid the oiks.

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

OP, be warned. DS went to a super-selective grammar and really didn't do as well as he should have done. Indeed, I reckon quite a few of his primary school friends (they were a very bright class) who went to comprehensives, narrowly missing getting grammar school places, will have done considerably better than him in their A Levels. He gave up on being competitive once he knew he wasn't 'top dog'. He coasted up until his GCSE year, redeemed himself reasonably in his A Levels (but not brilliantly). I am convinced he would have done far better being pushed to achieve in the comprehensive.

I feel really bad for falling into the trap of thinking the grammar school would be the best educational environment for him. Ironically I think DD, who I would consider less academic, could end up doing equally as well from her comprehensive school.

And note that many in grammar schools continue with tuition to gain their top grades (certainly the case of many of DS's friends destined to become doctors), so the stellar results don't quite tell the full story.

You could always send him to the comprehensive for Yrs 7-11 and then consider grammar school for sixth form (which would give you more time to consider the viability of a move etc...).

[CruCru]

I’m not convinced that this is a decision that can be made based solely on statistics. Have you been to visit both schools? What did you think of them? If a child is going to have a commute to school, you should all be fired up with enthusiasm for that school.

[BertrandRussell]

Blazers.....

[milliefiori]

If your child is a grammar prospect he is going to do well academically at either school.

I strongly disagree with this statement. It gets peddled all the time. It's not true. Very academic children are known to thrive in settings where being very academic doesn't lead to ridicule, social isolation or exclusion. You need to check whether there's peer pressure to be cool and not work at a mixed ability school.

However bright you are, if you spend your days putting up with constant class disruption by students who can't or won't concentrate and have no respect for your desire to do well, then you can't learn as effectively as you will in a classroom full of attentive students with high aspirations. Setting doesn't instantly alleviate this problem. I tutor lots of children who say they learn next to nothing all day long because the classroom is so noisy and the teachers are focused on crowd control not content.

Personally I'd go for the grammar unless you have really strong evidence that the comprehensive school has a strong ethos of praising and enabling high achievers. (Some don't, in case it's seen as elitist. Staggering, but true.)

[pepperpot99]

The OP never bothers to visit the schools either. Mad. And super lazy

[whiteroseredrose]

I think Milliefiori is right. The lack of disruption makes a big difference. Both my DC suffered in primary by being put on tables with troublesome classmates in the hope that they would be a calming influence. It didn't work and it was very stressful for them. It was a relief to go to a different school.

[BertrandRussell]

The kids at the school the OP is talking about seem to be able to struggle through the hordes of knuckle dragging, chair throwing delinquents that inhabit all comprehensives to somehow scrape a decent set of exam results.....

[RedskyLastNight]

millefiore
I strongly disagree with this statement. It gets peddled all the time. It's not true. Very academic children are known to thrive in settings where being very academic doesn't lead to ridicule, social isolation or exclusion.

The excellent P8 scores for high prior achievers at the comprehensive (better than the grammar), very strongly suggest that very academic children thrive there. The PP did not say "any school" but was referring to the specific school referenced by OP.

[milliefiori]

Fair point Redsky - I have heard it said generally but you're right, here it was relating to the specific school. Just, as a statement it makes me nervous because I often encounter bright children who struggle to fit in or to get work done to a standard they want in mixed ability schools (state or private.)