Grammar schools - 1960s/1970s

Sheila11

Girls are always top of the class up to year 6. Boys are slower in reaching their potential, so more girls would always get higher marks, I think until they’re 13. I think that’s the age when boys level up.

Hence the attempt, some years back, to make the change to a first (5-8yrs), middle (9-12hrs) and Upper (13 onwards) educational system.

Lots of LEAs made that change but the introduction of the National Curriculum with its different age points put a stop to that.

No Cariadagain, I didn’t get any presents. The opportunity of a good education was considered a reward and privilege in our family.

I had to manage University without any parental contributions. But we did get tutition and a room and a meal in those days🙂 Like a lot of students these days I had a part time job to earn what I needed.

In Scotland the equivalents were Senior and Junior secondaries. I was brought up in Edinburgh where even today a higher percentage of pupils go to fee paying schools than anywhere else in the UK. About a quarter of children. In the fifties these schools were boys or girls schools. But the corporations two free senior secondaries were co-educational and took children from a wide area across the city, many from working class homes. I had an excellent academic education in the one that covered the south side of the city. Boys of the privileged classes got an academic education in historic schools in the city. Some academic fee paying schools for girls had been created by feminists in the late nineteenth century but many privileged girls from middle class families went to small private girls schools where they were taught nothing much but how to be ladies. . So I was lucky in a way being a girl whose parents didn't have the money to pay for a private education. Women of my own age who went to these schools are often bitter about it. Most of these former boys schools are now co-educational and education and careers for girls are as important as for boys among the Edinburgh bourgeoisie. My former school is now the top performing state school.

Probably explains an injustice that's made me cross all my life ... Which involved my Mum , not me .
Born in 1933 she was a bright child who passed the 11 plus easily and should have gone to the Grammar school like her big boy.
Unfortunately she was told there " wasn't a place" for her and she went to the local secondary modern.
A year later a place miraculously came available for her at the Grammar school. My Mum was always feisty and had settled so refused to go , on principle.
My grandparents obviously didn't have any high expectations of girls because they didn't encourage her to move.
She left school at 14 , becoming a window dresser and then learning typing and became a typist.
She was always highly intelligent.
The year I went to uni she was also accepted into Durham University to study to be a priest.
She was one of the first women ordained into the priest hood at, Durham Cathedral in about 1993 and worked as a priest until her retirement.
After retirement, with the support of my Dad , she followed an Open University course and managed to finish this after Dad died .
I had the great privilege of walking my Mum , in her cap and gown, across the stage at the Sage in Gateshead on the day she graduated and earned her degree.
She was 82, the oldest graduate they'd had and she was a bit wobbly on her pins.
Sadly,she died in 2018, still holding on to her dreams of completing her Masters.
How I miss my wonderful Mum .

I didn't have the 11+ exam as I think it was abolished the year I was supposed to sit it. I still went to grammar school, first 2 years at a girls school then brightest went up to the big old red brick grammar building. I was in top stream 1.1 my class was called. Loved school but left at 15 due to bad home life. So with a job I could leave school at 16. Grammar school was very progressive. Girls could learn woodwork or Metal work, and we were taught about racism and apartheid.

I was looking forward to moving on to the girls grammar school - at our primary most girls in the top class each year went there.
Then our stupid local authority changed the system so had to go to the new junior high school which had been a secondary modern but systems weren't in place for the more academic children. It was awful. I was so unhappy there.
Fortunately at 14 you could choose to move to senior high and it was wonderful (eventually everyone had to go)

all same sex in our area. I wish I was allowed to have gone to a comprehensive as there was a greater variety of subjects to study..n

I went to a single sex grammar school. No 11+ but had 3 interviews for maths, English and with the head. I think I got a place because my dad died when I was 8 and the headteacher kept a number of places for girls like me.

Some years after my children had taken the 11+ I was told that the primary school was informed that x number of children had passed and it was left to the teachers to choose which ones! I don’t know if this is true but for my children it felt like it. My son was bright, handsome and likeable. My two girls were also bright and attractive but both were left handed and I have since discovered dyscalculic, and disliked by the teachers. Guess who went to the grammar school!

All girls grammar so no problem

My DiL was the first child from her Secondary modern to go to University. This was in the early 1990s

I was considered very bright at middle school, I took tests and finished them faster than anyone else and still came out top of the class. But that was it. I was socially inept, terribly introverted and outside of maths pretty poor at anything else. I went to grammar school and from being top of the class at middle school I became fairly average. Outside of maths and languages which I excelled at (strange I know for an introvert) I was fairly poor at everything else.

My parents did nothing to encourage me to study and I soon became lazy. I did manage to pass all my ‘O’ levels. All at Grade C!

When people hear I went to grammar school (not from me) I say ‘I was just good at tests’

Mirren

Probably explains an injustice that's made me cross all my life ... Which involved my Mum , not me .
Born in 1933 she was a bright child who passed the 11 plus easily and should have gone to the Grammar school like her big boy.
Unfortunately she was told there " wasn't a place" for her and she went to the local secondary modern.
A year later a place miraculously came available for her at the Grammar school. My Mum was always feisty and had settled so refused to go , on principle.
My grandparents obviously didn't have any high expectations of girls because they didn't encourage her to move.
She left school at 14 , becoming a window dresser and then learning typing and became a typist.
She was always highly intelligent.
The year I went to uni she was also accepted into Durham University to study to be a priest.
She was one of the first women ordained into the priest hood at, Durham Cathedral in about 1993 and worked as a priest until her retirement.
After retirement, with the support of my Dad , she followed an Open University course and managed to finish this after Dad died .
I had the great privilege of walking my Mum , in her cap and gown, across the stage at the Sage in Gateshead on the day she graduated and earned her degree.
She was 82, the oldest graduate they'd had and she was a bit wobbly on her pins.
Sadly,she died in 2018, still holding on to her dreams of completing her Masters.
How I miss my wonderful Mum .

Aw! re your mum. What a shame that there was that unfairness to her at the outset. Good for her that she did eventually get a job more worthy of her and did the OU course.

That was really nice that she got her degree eventually and that you were able to be with her then. I always think "Good for them" for anyone that obtains a major objective at the age at which most people are putting their feet up.

In my area there are three grammar schools, one mixed, and two single sex, but there are other selective schools a short train ride away, so I don't know how that affects numbers allocated to boys or girls.
Neither I, nor any of my children, received a gift for their results at eleven, although my son's godmother sent him a book token the week after the tests to compensate him for having to take part in such a system!

My Catholic grammar school was single, there was one for boys too.
The other grammar schools in our town were mixed.

I went to school in Kent where there were Technical schools as well as Grammars and Secondary Moderns. Those getting top marks in the 11+ went to Grammar and the next 10% went to Technical.

Those who just failed the 11+ could resit at 13 and go to the Technical school. Anyone in the top stream at the Secondary Modern who wanted to stay past 15 and take O levels could go to the Technical school and take the exams at 17 instead of 16.

The girls Grammar schools were strict and aspirational. The Secondary Moderns largely taught cooking, sewing, childcare and homecare. All schools were single sex.

My area had single sex grammar schools, mine the girls’ had 3 forms of entry 96 places per year, my husband’s had 4 forms 128 places each year.

I went to a girls single sex grammar school. The boys grammar school was not too far away. All the girls used to go mad if they saw any young males near the school (even the poor unsuspecting gardeners, window cleaners, workmen etc). Looking back I don't think single sex schools prepare children for sone aspects of adulthood - we all thought young males were like aliens!

Was early 60s. Passed but didn't want to go, wanted the secondary school. Had an awful strop with parents and Headmaster of primary. Best friends hadnt passed, but had top grades for other school. Parents gave in and I enjoyed every minute at Secondary. Given opportunity to move to other school when 15 to continue education. Took it up, best of both worlds.

I went to Grammar school in 1967. Six of us passed 3 girls and boys. I also would have hated not to pass and have to go to the secondary school. Rumour had it that you passed if your parents were farmers, had a shop or were just rich. I didn't come into any of those categories.

growstuff

All the grammar schools in my area were single sex, so there was no question of giving more places to boys to make sure there was a 50/50 split.

We had 3 grammar schools in our area, one each single sex and one co-ed. I'm pretty sure it was well known that the boys' school accepted boys with a lower pass mark than my all-girls' grammar school. All 3 schools were pretty good and so were our local sec mods. Several girls from the secondary schools joined our 6th form as they'd done well at O-level.

Not all Secondary Modern schools were poor.the one I taught at in the 60s/70s was first choice for a lot of parents. The pupils could do O levels as well as CSEs .All levels were catered for.

Anyone attend a grammar school in Trafford ?
We remained there purely so that the lads could attend one of the four grammar schools

Mirren

Probably explains an injustice that's made me cross all my life ... Which involved my Mum , not me .
Born in 1933 she was a bright child who passed the 11 plus easily and should have gone to the Grammar school like her big boy.
Unfortunately she was told there " wasn't a place" for her and she went to the local secondary modern.
A year later a place miraculously came available for her at the Grammar school. My Mum was always feisty and had settled so refused to go , on principle.
My grandparents obviously didn't have any high expectations of girls because they didn't encourage her to move.
She left school at 14 , becoming a window dresser and then learning typing and became a typist.
She was always highly intelligent.
The year I went to uni she was also accepted into Durham University to study to be a priest.
She was one of the first women ordained into the priest hood at, Durham Cathedral in about 1993 and worked as a priest until her retirement.
After retirement, with the support of my Dad , she followed an Open University course and managed to finish this after Dad died .
I had the great privilege of walking my Mum , in her cap and gown, across the stage at the Sage in Gateshead on the day she graduated and earned her degree.
She was 82, the oldest graduate they'd had and she was a bit wobbly on her pins.
Sadly,she died in 2018, still holding on to her dreams of completing her Masters.
How I miss my wonderful Mum .

Grammar schools had to be paid for before 1944, maybe her parents just told her that because they couldn't afford the fees?

Pigeon Holed at that time of life!

In the 1970s A level results were smoothed to ensure that the same proportion of each grade was given to both sexes. The girls, of course, did better in absolute terms.