Eldest daughter is in year 6 and now going through the process of looking at secondary schools. She did her 11+ and whilst she's a bright girl, I'm not 100% convinced she'll a) pass it (she seemed confident) or b) have the drive to put in the hours a Grammar school would probably require.
Anyone got kids in any local schools that can give an opinion on them?, saw Welling School Saturday morning and whilst it was the first one I've seen and therefore have nothing to benchmark it against, I have to say I was pretty impressed (despite hearing some indifferent reports). Going to see Harris Academy tonight and really like the look of that.
Outside of those 2 and Bexleyheath Academy, if she doesn't get into Grammar school (Bexley Grammar) we would be looking probably at Cleve Park?, Crown Woods?....all seem a fair distance away though travel wise.
I don't want her to go to Grammar school and struggle near the bottom of the class, would rather she flourished at another school.
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Got friends sending their kids there and all seem reasonably happy.
Not saying Welling is a great / bad school, she has enjoyed it, she has at times been bored there, she wants to learn and found it hard being with other kids who didn't want to learn. The one thing I will say, is that Mrs GA has over the years been onto the school reminding them that not to hold my daughter back due to others in her class and not take some of the shit they give as answers/ excuses.
We did have falling outs at times, mainly because they treated well behaved kids like mine a bit differently to 'naughty' kids, for example sending my son home without a coat on in December as it was charcoal grey and not black. Also threatened us with social services whilst my daughter was in hospital with a blood clot in her throat after having her tonsils out, she was off for over 3 weeks but her and my son had 2 years of 100% attendance, yep 2 years off 100%.
All schools are much of a muchness but they enjoyed their time there, just remeber, English Maths Science. That is it, for them to do anything and be taken serious when they leave school that's all they need really, anything else a bonus.
The colleges or 6th forms didn't give a toss for anything else, if they had 6 a levels and only a d in English it was tough shite, had to do the course below and waste a year. Luckily enough both got their required results to do level 3 courses, and to add to that they both only lasted 3 months max at college and are both now skilled in their professions earning a decent salary at 19 and 21.
Pm me if you need more info.
Leaving aside the debate about whether doing homework is any good, simply asking 'have you done your homework?' isn't as good as looking at the books and asking about lessons and the school experience, and then being supportive.
The school won't be able to do everything alone and a parent shouldn't be daunted because they can't speak Spanish, or don't get the maths, they can help by getting the child to teach them!
A home routine would help. I would say that doing 'homework' as soon as the child gets home is counter productive. They need to get changed, eat or drink something, chill a bit, and then perhaps contemplate school and their tasks. If there is no 'homework' then practice some French words, or read for a while, or be inventive by extra research on a topic, all the time with parental interest and PRAISE.
You are worried about a school exposing weaknesses, wrong school if they do, a decent school should value and build on strengths.
My mistake was not inviting friends round enough which I regret, as the social context can enhance learning and development, but as parents we all get some things a bit wrong sometimes.
Did they need drive to progress? Well yes I suppose they did but my observations were that it was no more than any child should be able to do with supportive parents. I wanted them to prove to themselves that they would be ready for Grammar and consequently did not get any additional tuition to prepare them for their 11+ - thankfully they both sailed through it with high marks and then flourished at MGS.
If your daughter gets a strong pass at 11+ then I would advise not to rule our Grammar school if that's what she wants to do - although a scrape through the 11+ might indicate she would find Grammar a challenge.
Best of luck to her whatever you guys choose.
It is a bit of a minefield , I hope you get the right one , good luck !
Almost all non grammars now have a 'grammar' stream.
The world is changing however. For example actual knowledge may well be less sought after compared with the ability to seek out appropriate knowledge when needed. Cooperative skills may well overtake competitive ones, and creativity (Theresa May's desperate buzz word in Florence) may well be more desirable than predictability.
It is a brave parent that suggests to a school or their child that the present education system is not omnipotent but they might have a point.
Follow your instincts, do what's right for your child (they're all unique)
Harris Academy, I thought, where the hell's that?
So I googled it. How blinkin' pretentious haha ..... who dreamed up that name?
It's only a posh name for old Westwood Scrubs.