Candidates flying from overseas to sit super-selective grammar 11+

[PopcornPoppingInAPan]

A friend told me for one of the super super selectives in London that some candidates who live overseas had flown in to sit the 11+ exam. If successful the whole family was relocating here. (This is foreign nationals, rather than “ex-pat” British families living overseas.) The school has no priority area.

I wondered if anyone had heard this and whether it was credible or if it’s one of those internet rumours?

I was also wondering if it’s even possible to do this. Obviously families do relocate to the UK and assuming they and the kids have a right to reside then the kids will be entitled to a school place. But can you do it before you’ve moved here?

I guess if you can put down a relative’s address as your address for the purpose of sitting the exam and then submitting the CAF maybe that’s all you need. I wasn’t sure if LAs did any more checks on candidates who aren’t already on their books at state primary, IYSWIM.

I have heard of a family moving from Yorkshire when their DC got a place at the same super selective school so perhaps this is just an extension of that.

Every time you run out of arguments, you ignore the discussion, shift to another point, and make random claims without any substance.

"I have come to believe that the only way we will get change in the selective areas is to have a countrywide policy, nationally promoted and applied. Grammar schools are unhealthy and should be phased out. We do not suggest that local areas can pick their own energy policy, so why should we with education?"

John Bercow being a Labour politician may not understand the basics of Economics, house price risk and impact on local jobs, but what he would understand is throwing a fellow Labour MP under the bus, and voting patterns.
It would set an extremely dangerous precedent for the Labour Party if in a previously Tory stronghold like Bucks they went for this with no consultation. It would message to every other Tory stronghold to never ever vote Labour in case they stab you in the back in the biggest way possible. That much these politicians would understand.

I am not really sure why you picked someone who specifically defected to the other side and then quoted their supposed opinion which may have been driven by an agenda to be accepted by the other side. It really makes no sense.

And got suspended! Maybe do some research.

Basic fact, John Bercow was a 22 years conservative senior MP, and house of speaker.
He joined Labour after he stands down.

En speaking someone doing her research...

He was a Conservative MP in a grammar school county for 22 years, knows the area the people and the trends.. far more credible than your wishful random thoughts.

Once again, you are assuming that the good citizens of Bucks are all in favour of grammar schools. There's no evidence that this is the case, as I have already pointed out. There is, as a matter if fact, no evidence either way, there hasn't been a consultation in many, many years. But hey you crack on, because I get a good laugh out of you claiming to know more about an area than I do when I have lived there for 30 years and put DCs through both its grammar school and secondary modern systems.

And for the record, I can't stand Bercow.

You love mentioning your “evidence” (ignoring the bias in all the studies you’ve quoted) whilst being incredibly rude to anyone you disagree with on here. Add in a barely disguised racial undertow to a lot of your comments and what started as an interesting debate has descended into something far uglier. I’m glad you clearly have the entire evening to argue with strangers on the internet but I will now also bow out…

“And for the record, I can't stand Bercow.”

Of course you don’t @thing47 - but is it not ironic, that all Bercow needed to do to be accepted by Labour with open arms is to rant about grammar schools and throw in the Holland Park name. That whole article, it represents the height of cliches and the Achilles heel, in the Labour Party.

It would set an extremely dangerous precedent for the Labour Party if in a previously Tory stronghold like Bucks they went for this with no consultation. It would message to every other Tory stronghold to never ever vote Labour in case they stab you in the back in the biggest way possible.

I think Labour has made that quite clear. Getting rid of grammars would barely warrant a blink of an eye. In any case Mid Bucks is still Tory and Buckingham and Bletchley went to Labour because Tory voters voted Reform.

Are you suggesting that society should go out of its way to keep house prices high in certain areas?

“Are you suggesting that society should go out of its way to keep house prices high in certain areas?“

Not in certain areas but you would definitely want to avoid a housing crash inadvertently through an education policy, especially given stagflation/looming recession and global uncertainty.

There are also clauses in the draft Schools Bill suggesting the LA will have the final say on PAN in schools and conceivably that means they will stop the most popular schools (including comprehensives primarily) from expanding to meet parental demand so that they have to go to the less popular schools.
The thinking seems to always be that if you control, you will avoid the sink school phenomenon where nobody wants to teach.
They simply do not seem to be able to get away from the thinking that they would like middle class dust to be sprinkled around like magic to motivate everyone else to work and achieve.

Are you suggesting that working class people don't care about their children's education and that working class children aren't as motivated as middle class children. As I tell you that you're wrong if you think that. I have lived in working class and middle class areas and I can tell both groups have a small minority that don't give a crap about their children...but the vast minority are bothered and do care.

@privatenonamegiven - no I do not think that at all and my personal experience of grammar schools with 3 elder children attests to the fact that there were plenty of extremely hard working children from working class backgrounds. However, I do think that the current politicians seem to believe that. They are a pretty classists bunch and it is aimed at everyone, whatever your origin it seems.

@Araminta1003 I'm glad you've said that and I would agree that politicians of all stripes, and our media have a tendency to encourage these kind of stereotypes. Sadly our society is very classed based.

I want to give another point of view regarding grammar schools. It was such a relief for me when my DS got into our local grammar school. He was bullied at primary school because of his love for learning, his insatiable yearning to know more etc. He was so unhappy.

Since being in a grammar with 'his people' as he puts it he is now thriving. He can be himself. He was soooo bored at primary school which created a whole lot of other issues. He is now being challenged and is a different, happy boy. It would have been a very different situation if he had not had this opportunity.

I can't understand this wanting to do away with grammar schools.

The grammar school my DS goes to has tried everything to make it fair for all children. They even opened up free tutoring - for 'bright' children who were not receiving tutoring - during school time. The uptake was so abysmal that they have now stopped. There is really no excuse that you need lots of money to get into grammar school. There are so many free resources available including free fantastic tutoring sessions. It all boils down to will and potentially being misinformed.