Secondary choices seem so grim. What to do?

[REALchoice]

I thought there was some concept of choice for education these days?

Figures for 5 GCSEs A-C A* Catchment School 32% recent 'satisfactory' Ofsted but report sounds very negative
B Next closest school 38% failed Ofsted a couple of years ago and still in special measures
C Over my dead body school 15%
D A bus ride away 31% similar report to school A but 2 years ago

Reports of behaviour/discipline at all 4 schools are not encouraging.

There is also a RC school (E 51%), that we wouldn't get into; and a school (F 51%) 8 miles away that we also would not get into.

What to do?

move

Don't get too hung up on league tables! I have friends whose children attend a school with 'poor' GCSE results, but they have been nurtured right the way through and have got 12 each - mostly A* and A!

The Ofsted report is a worry, of course. How are the 'value added' figures? I'd take more notice of those than the % of kids getting 5 GCSEs.

I'll try to find you a link.

Here you go... I've got it set for Herts, where I live, but you can put in any UK postcode. Then you can click on each school name for more info.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/04/school_tables/secondary_schools/html/919.stm

Home-ed?

Sounds like you will have to move unless you have exceptionally bright children who would do well anywhere.

ds wants to go to a school that gets 80%
dh wont consider anything less than 100%.
we moved here precisely because of the good schools whends was only 4 years old.
where we lived before, i would have either home educated, or lived on the streets, eated bread and water, but scraped together the money for private schools.

VA and CVA are rubbish at this schools.

Unfortunately we have no choice as to where we live: dh's job comes with a house that we have to live in.

We will apply to school F, then appeal, probably not get in; then send him to independent school.

It just annoys me intensely this myth of choice. Because I feel we have no choice. My son would not be happy and he would not thrive at these schools.

Choice is just a Government myth - it only exists for the 2% of the population who live next door to a good school.

The rest of us have to pay or move.

From a secondary school application booklet:
"Promises of more parental choice have encouraged some parents to believe that they have the
right both to choose a school and have that choice met. This is not the case. The law on
admissions gives parents the right to express a preference for a school. It does not use the
word choice."
So yes you are right - choice doesn't come into it.

It isn'n meant to be a choice. It is meant to be a preference...or so say all the government people..

That sounds like an awful selection of schools, RC. I would be absolutely gutted if that was what I were faced with. Even the best one at 38% is not doing well by its pupils - that is not a good standard at all.

We were fortunate enough with a local school of 50ish%, and scary pupils at chucking out time, to be able to include a private school in our choices. I don't know what we would have done otherwise - move, I suppose.

Move. Or pay.

And whoever said choice was a government myth was right.

REALchoice I wonder if you live in SE London to be honest.
Those reassuring figures sound awfully familiar

They give you choices but don't promise you good choices.

Omg - do you live in Grimsby...OP sounds JUST like where i live

I am giving the catchment school a chance, and if i think it's failing my kids i'll home-ed.

i agree with forty plus. tbh i'm sick of hearing parents round here moaning at their preconceptions of the local school.

have neice and nephew who have both done really well at the local comp and they were nurtured throughout. if the children are willing to learn they get alot of support from the teaches.

They don't manage to learn much if their classmates constantly and consistently disrupt lessons! Or if there aren't teachers there to teach them who are trained for their subject - even basic English and Maths teachers are apparently in short supply in my local secondarys. It makes you wonder why.

My DS1 went to a High school (we are in an 11+ area) with GCSE results in the 30% range. He did really well and was in top sets throughout, coming out with 10 A-Cs.

The Headmaster was very strong and the pastoral care in the school was spot on. Sadly since he left the Head has retired and the school has bombed.

What you need to check with these sorts of schools is the setting procedures; the pastoral system and the Head. If there is a strict uniform policy that is enforced, and they don't let kids wander around during lessons, chances are a bright kid will do OK.

I'd still go and get a feel for the schools as if they've had a change of head/slt (likely if in special measures) they can make all the difference to a school's ethos, but it might take a while to filter through to the GCSE results. Visit on open eve and in the school day.

My father is the school manager for a school in London whose results were 20%
two years ago, this year 48% and expected to be 60%+ the next.

Or go private but look to see where the pupils go onto afterwards as an indicator of success - otherwise it's a lot to pay for a few French lessons and lacrosse.

who are all these kids that disrupt lessons? if your child wants to learn, they'll be put into groups with the same ability/eagerness to learn

surely schools distribute the disruptive ones through all the classes - otherwise imagine teaching the class that had them all in. The problem comes, I imagine, if there's more than a critical mass of them in one class and not enough measures in place for dealing with them and/or a teacher that can't keep control.

But please don't assume that private is better. There are plenty of threads on this forum started by people who aren't happy with the education their children are getting but don't feel able to complain even though they are paying up front rather than through taxation for it! Always try to talk to some of the children at the school - league tables only tell half the story

No Marina, we're not in SW London. We do live in a town, but the area we live in is actually quite remote - hence the lack of any other schools within a reasonable distance.

Most of the schools have setting only for some subjects, and IMO this means that poor behaviour in classes becomes infectious and more and more students become disruptive, disturbing more and more learning.

I actually work in one of these schools, so I know exactly what goes on on a day-to-day basis. We've visited Open Days for almost all of these schools, and have visited two schools during their regular school day; as well as talking to students and people who work there.