Schooling

[PANCHALI_R]

What exactly is a grammar school and how is it different from a regular school?

[chazza]

It is a regular school but over here it is for those who passed their age 11 exams (or who have rich enough parents to pay!)

[OBonio]

It stems back to the olden days. Grammar school was for the clever / rich kids and Secondary Modern was for the more labour minded workers. Where you went depended on how you done in your 11+ exam or how rich your parents were.

They're all comprehensives / secondary schools nowadays I think.

[chazza]

I live in NI and the vast majority of our schools are grammar or secondary.  I could count the number of comprehensives we have on one hand!  Is the mainland different?

[Loosehead]

Grammar schools are selective, they set a test. It is not the 11 plus that died years ago. Essentially it is so that bright kids can optimise their education regardless of back ground. Obonio is completely wrong, the reality is precisely the opposite. Rich kids go to Public(private) school where the parents can afford to pay, they are not selected on ability but the fee paying schools generally make the best of what talents a child has. Poor kids with ability go to Grammar schools and yes, Obonio despite the lefty wreckers they do survive and in fact it's the only way a smart kid from a poor familiy can get anywhere near their potential. In my area in the year my son did the test 650 kids applied for 150 places, they where selected by test but virtually every parent in the area put their kid up for it as they know that the remaining Grammer schools are the only hope for poor kids to get a decent education.

Usually O'bonio your answers are thought out and constructive, this is the first time I've seen you so spectacularly wide of the mark.

[dothawkes]

I went to Ormskirk Grammar school in the late 60s early 70s and I was a farm labourers daughter.  It was a mixed bunch of kids from lots of backgrounds, we had to walk past the secondary modern every morning in our felt hats carrying our hockey sticks and we were called Grammar Bugs by all the kids going to the secondary.  Now my old school has been demolished and the Grammar school has merged with the secondary modern and so all the kids go to the same place, astounding!

[kempie]

The 11-plus exam still exists for entry into English grammar schools, of which there are 164, and is currently in its death-throes in NI.

Grammar schools select all or almost all of their pupils by reference to high academic ability. The current policy on grammar schools was agreed by the Labour Party Conference in 1995, and states that there will be no new grammar schools and no further selection based on the 11-plus. Selection will only end where there is a local demand for this to happen. Legislation allows parents to make decisions about the future of selective admissions at existing grammar schools by means of petitions and ballots. Additionally, the governing body of a grammar school may publish proposals to end selection at the school.

[Gef]

In Scotland, parents can pay to send their kids to a private school (waste of money) or thay go to the local comprehensive. As long as they have the backing of their parents and choose the right friends the kids at the comprehensive will achieve as much as they are able to.