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Grammar Schools 'may Ask Parents For Hundreds Of Pounds A Year'

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mikey4444 | 18:23 Wed 25th Jan 2017 | News
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-38739744

So it would seem that having a gifted child is not enough.....parents of Grammar School kids will need to be wealthy as well.

From the above link :::::

"A majority of grammars will be left worse off by proposed funding changes, according to analysis by the Grammar School Heads' Association"
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Crosland, yes, but let's not forget Shirley Williams who was given the job of destroying British education in the first Wilson administration. And a very good job she made of it too.

Vera Brittain's little girl went to St. Paul's Girls' School in London. Checked the school out on Wiki. Founded by the Mercers' Company. Coincidentally my grammar school was found by the 16th century mercer Richard Collyer. Prided itself on its high number of acceptances to Oxbridge in my day. God knows what its current academic record (as co-ed sixth form college) is like.
Nice one, Togo. No prizes for guessing.
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Its rather puzzling to see so many of our right-wingers on here desperately trying and failing to defend cuts in education, made by the Party they voted for. And its especially desperate for those who want instead to drag up people from history.

But this isn't the 1960's. This about schools attempting to cope with cuts in education spending. After nearly 7 years of Tory rule and Tory cuts, why are parents still having to plug the gaps in essential spending ?
Drag up people from history? That's rich, given your avatar.
When I was young enough to go to school they demanded an obligatory fee each term or year or whatever. Years later I learnt it was supposed to be voluntary. That's not how they described it ! Voluntary my foot.
My nephew was working in a grammar school last winter when the boiler broke down - there was no heating for 3 weeks because the school had no money to pay for repairs.
“After nearly 7 years of Tory rule and Tory cuts, why are parents still having to plug the gaps in essential spending ?”

Because, among many other things successive governments (of any hue) have chosen to waste taxpayers’ dosh on, the country is currently shelling out >£12bn a year on Overseas Aid and >£10bn a year on EU contributions (most of which goes to the net recipient EU nations with the rest going in "expenses") . To this sum you can add at least another £1bn in interest because it all has to be borrowed. You can mend a lot of boilers and buy quite a few pens and pencils for £23bn. That sort of money has to come from somewhere and whilst this profligacy continues on such a grand scale parents will have to get used to supplementing the education of their children (over and above the extortionate taxes they already pay). Poor people, of course, will be exempt from this particular measure because (a) Few of their children attend grammar schools (so I’m led to believe) and (b) the contributions are voluntary and they simply won’t pay.
There is also the question of paying for inherited PFI contracts.
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NJ....The Tories have been in charge of education in England since 2010. The have nobody else to blame for this current under funding problem.

I notice you are not dragging up the names of long-dead Labour Ministers, and thanks for that.

All the evidence suggests that children from poor backgrounds don't generally go to Grammar Schools, if we base that on the percentage of children entitled free school meals.

Whatever the reason that schools may find themselves strapped for cash in the immediate future, its the present Government that is to blame, whichever way you look at it. My link makes it quite clear that its cuts that are giving the
Grammar School Heads' Association problems. Again, to quote from what they say ::::

"But the Grammar School Heads' Association has said that while 60 grammar schools will gain, 103 are set to lose money, 62 of which will receive cuts as deep as any in England"
"NJ....The Tories have been in charge of education in England since 2010. The have nobody else to blame for this current under funding problem. "

I have not suggested anything to the contrary, Mikey. You will note from my earlier post that I make no party political issue of this. All govenments - Labour, Coalition and Tory - have been guilty of squandering taxpayers' money on a vast scale on things that are of no benefit whatsoever to UK taxpayers.

When considering the wealth of people whose children attend grammar schools you need to also consider cause and effect. Many parents send their children to grammar schools not because they are wealthy but because they invest (in time and attention) in their development and education. Many poor people do not because they believe that a grammar school education "is not for their kids". It's not simply a matter of affordability. I attended a grammar school because I was reasonably bright, my parents encourage me to do well at primary school and there were plenty of grammar schools around. Mt father was a painter and decorator and my mother a wages clerk. There was little wealth in my family.
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NJ...this is not a debate about the rights and wrongs on Grammar Schools, but the funding thereof. And I appreciate that you understand that point !
Further to the Judge's post. I was the eldest of 13 children, again bright enough to pass the 11 plus exam.(aged 9) I left that school aged 16 due to family economic pressure and was working down the coal mines aged 16. The grammar school principles and the ethos to think and analyse, and to voice an opinion without fear or favour has stood me in good stead all my life. Perhaps this is what makes the anti Grammar school brigade run for the sick pail. Or that they were indeed admitted, but were not able to develop the aptitude for higher education, so instead seek refuge in the cant and social division that suits their narrow underdeveloped insight. Strange thing is the "leaders" of the leftie luvvies all send their kids to private, or exclusive, or top end, grammar schools whilst demanding that their client human zoo followers do no such thing..... Meeh.
Talking of wasted money, isn't at least (conservatively speaking) of the money spent on "higher" education just that, profiting neither the recipients nor the society which is funding them? This money could be redirected to nursery, primary and secondary education where it would undoubtedly do more good.

Opinion of a grammar school boy from a poor family.
... at least HALF
Just about all the teenage kids in my town go to a grammar school just because it's the nearest.
There are no social divisions here.
Mikey //My link makes it quite clear that its cuts that are giving the
Grammar School Heads' Association problems. Again, to quote from what they say ::::

"But the Grammar School Heads' Association has said that while 60 grammar schools will gain, 103 are set to lose money, 62 of which will receive cuts as deep as any in England"//

Drivel

This is a consultation exercise and that as a result of re-allocation of funds under a fairer system there would be expected to be winners and losers.

If you include the paragraph which you conveniently omitted from part of your quote it is brought into context:-

//The new system is designed to support deprived areas by reallocating existing funding.
But the Grammar School Heads' Association has said that while 60 grammar schools will gain, 103 are set to lose money, 62 of which will receive cuts as deep as any in England.//

Where in your link does it say that any schools will be penalised as a result of overall government cuts as you seem to claim?

Could I suggest that you wait until the end of the consultation period and the final details of the changes are known before you pronounce judgement.
but ve, universities carry out important research... via their mobiles

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jan/25/students-caffeine-newcastle-crown-court-northumbria

It does not seem unreasonable to me that parents be asked to contribute reasonably to their child's education - no matter what school they attend. In France ALL parents are expected to provide ALL files, exercise books, paper, pens, pencils etc. and the supermarkets are full of them in August. Parents pride themselves on equipping their children correctly.

In the UK a fortune is spent on providing this sort of thing and I genuinely do not see why, if you have a child ( an optional extra these days in 99.9% of cases) you should not supply them with their needs. I have actually bought dictionaries for the children I go into school to help with their reading - I know, I'm daft, I certainly can't easily afford it...... but why don't their parents help?

If parents have to pay just a bit then they might pay more attention to their children and their academic progress - to everyone's benefit.

PS All French parents also have to pay a yearly insurance policy to cover their child/children against accident etc..
Now stop that Jordain you are introducing enlightened "European" thinking into a "Welsh" outlook. :))

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