.... a good friend of mine has put her 11 year old boy up for various local grammar and other selective secondary schools. He is bright but hasn't managed to get into any of them as they are hugely competitive, as most are!
Most of his peers are going to the local comp which is good, had great ofsted report etc.
However, there is an 'academy' locally which has a bad reputation and they are trying to get kids from her area into there and improve it and this is the school that he has been offered.
His mum is incredibly upset by this, as I would be under the circumstances, but I feel we need to change our tact as parents. This boy has been told, or felt, that he has 'failed' all the grammar and other selective school exams, he expected the local comp, having been told or overheard that the academy was failing,was a last resort etc etc. I just think if he hadn't heard all this negative stuff then, if after an appeal, he still has to go there, then it would be better for him in the long run, instead of approaching it with the thought that he had failed and was in the worst school ever.