Immigration - a positive!

petra

GrannyGravy13

Well done all students 👏👏👏

I read that the Michaela School , London had exceptionally good results with over 70% of students achieving 3A/A*’s.

A good example of how adherence to its strict rules can bring excellent benefits to its students.

If only all schools could have a Kathrine Birbalsingh.

Those results will make Bridget Phillipson choke on her cornflakes this morning. Kathrine Birbalsingh is an inspirational Head and was a constant thorn in Phillipson's side when she was Education Secretary.

The Michaela school is not one that I would necessarily choose for my own children, but it's worth reminding critics that every top private school and grammar school in the country has strict entry requirements to achieve the best possible grades.
So, why then is it that when an inner-city state school in Wembley holds local, working-class children to the exact same elite standards, critics refuse to see it as excellence?

DaisyAnneReturns

GrannyGravy13

Well done all students 👏👏👏

I read that the Michaela School , London had exceptionally good results with over 70% of students achieving 3A/A*’s.

A good example of how adherence to its strict rules can bring excellent benefits to its students.

Good pattern spotting but you seem to have missed the class on "correlation does not imply causation" lesson GrannyGravy13.

Fair point on causality, and one worth discussion more widely, not just in the context of Michaela, but was the put-down attitude really necessary? Maybe you missed the class on replying to your peers' comments without sarcasm?

Blimey!

I make no apologies for being a fan of The Michaela School and its ethics.

I live in a county that still has Grammar Schools and the local Comps have entrance exams for students outside the catchment area, which is basically selection of the finest

We used both the state and private sector to educate our 5 offspring, choosing the appropriate school for each child’s needs.

Why an inner city school is being castigated for having high standards confuses me, tantamount to inverted snobbery ?

Tuliptree

Exactly - there’s strong research evidence which shows a grade 8 is a very strong predictor of an A or A* at A level. So Michaela students get what they should because they’re carefully selected not because the school is strict. My grandsons delightful local comprehensive gets the same results for its grade 8 students but also welcomes and educates a wide range of abilities in the 6th form.

As you say there is evidence for this its not just "opinion".

I wonder what all the grandmas would say should the government follow the facts and says all schools must follow the same path and not accept pupils onto A level courses with anything less - and their little Jimmy or Jemima can't get onto an A level course.

GG the school is not being castigated. I just used facts yes facts because this school gets lionised in the media because her philosophy chimes with theirs. This school is achieving the results it should based on the fact that it refuses to admit to the 6th form the ones that research tells us are highly unlikely to achieve As or A*s. I’m sorry you can’t see the difference between castigating and objective analysis and facts.

GrannyGravy13

Blimey!

I make no apologies for being a fan of The Michaela School and its ethics.

I live in a county that still has Grammar Schools and the local Comps have entrance exams for students outside the catchment area, which is basically selection of the finest

We used both the state and private sector to educate our 5 offspring, choosing the appropriate school for each child’s needs.

Why an inner city school is being castigated for having high standards confuses me, tantamount to inverted snobbery ?

I think you have missed the point which is about verifiable data rather than opinion.

In the UK, about 6% to 7% of school children attend private (independent) schools, a share that has remained flat for decades. In contrast, approximately 34% to 35% of students in Australia attend non-government (private or Catholic) schools, giving Australia one of the highest private school enrollment rates in the developed world. I think that tells us quite a bit about your countries satisfaction with government funded schools.

Your system is very different to ours. My GD is just coming to the end of her exams - like America the Australian schools finish a year earlier than the UK and use a complicated - by comparison to ours - points system. As I understand it 25% come from classwork, 25% from Trials* and 50% from State exams which have, I think, ended or are just ending, depending on subjects.

I think it's very difficult to compare the two systems.

* Trials usually take place in Term 3 of Year 12 (the final year of high school), right before the official state-wide end-of-year external exams.

I think the facts are in a complete jumble in that last post! GrannyGravy13 isn't in Australia, nowhere near.

MartavTaurus

I think the facts are in a complete jumble in that last post! GrannyGravy13 isn't in Australia, nowhere near.

You're right. It seems I saw Granny plus a number and jumped to our Australian poster! That doesn't actually make my post "a complete jumble" although I do appreciate the Australian system can be hard to understand. I also still think the poster missed the point which is about verifiable data rather than opinion, so all is not lost.

It's remains an interesting comparison though. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that permanent and long-term migrant arrivals from the UK reached a ten-year high, with nearly 40,000 arrivals recorded in recent annual cycles so many grandparents may find themselves needing to understand the differences.

DaisyAnneReturns

Tuliptree

Exactly - there’s strong research evidence which shows a grade 8 is a very strong predictor of an A or A* at A level. So Michaela students get what they should because they’re carefully selected not because the school is strict. My grandsons delightful local comprehensive gets the same results for its grade 8 students but also welcomes and educates a wide range of abilities in the 6th form.

As you say there is evidence for this its not just "opinion".

I wonder what all the grandmas would say should the government follow the facts and says all schools must follow the same path and not accept pupils onto A level courses with anything less - and their little Jimmy or Jemima can't get onto an A level course.

You use the term ‘ Grandmas’ quite frequently and it seems to me done in a sarcastic manner.
Are you not a Grandma yourself? Why not say ‘posters’ to include everyone then, as not all are Grandmas or Mothers or Wives, come to that.

You're reading too much into my post. Knowing your posts, and your need to take offence at posts that don't share your opinion, I feel you are finding what you want to find rather than what is there.

I'm suprised someone posting on "Gransnet" sees "Grandmas" as even a possible "sarcastic" comment. Isn't that exactly what most of us are and the reason why we are drawn to this site?

The above in reply to: Oreo Fri 14-Aug-26 10:28:46

I have no needs at all to take offence at posts that don’t share my opinion so I guess that’s simply you DAR but I have noticed the derisive note when you mention grans or grannies.

MartavTaurus

Good teachers definitely nanna8. Yet there are good teachers across the entire UK, not just in London, so other reasons must come into play.

I'm beginning to think that the quest for high grades comes directly from the pupils themselves, heavily backed by their parents. Immigrant families appear to have higher hopes and expectations. I guess it's to do with their viewing education as a vehicle for upward social mobility.

I think you’ve got it in one

Only in your head Oreo. So if it's not one way to show offence, why suggest it? When did anyone see calling Grandmas "Gradndmas" as offensive. That is a very strange world. I still think you are trying to "win" by baiting rather than arguing the topic.

Oreo

MartavTaurus

Good teachers definitely nanna8. Yet there are good teachers across the entire UK, not just in London, so other reasons must come into play.

I'm beginning to think that the quest for high grades comes directly from the pupils themselves, heavily backed by their parents. Immigrant families appear to have higher hopes and expectations. I guess it's to do with their viewing education as a vehicle for upward social mobility.

I think you’ve got it in one

so others reasons must come into play
The reasons came into play in the 50s.
The education dept ( or whatever it was called then) realised that London needed well educated children to feed tge growth of banks, insurance institutions. A lot of major shipping companies had their offices in the city.
Then there was the growth of the civil service. This all tied in with the growth of better rail services.
I might be wrong but I think that Kent had the highest number of grammar schools in the country.

In the 1950s and 60s girls in particular at Grammar Schools were steered towards teaching, the Civil Service, Local Government.
Girls at the Secondary Modern school were steered towards nursing and office work if they were in the top stream.

Was that a form of social engineering?

Maybe that was because it worked for the country as it was at the time to do that?
Things evolve, education and schools need to adapt too.
(That's why I was cross on another thread with some government advisor damning children as unemployable from preschool. Grrr!)

I think one of the great successes, that needs mentioning, has to be Newham, where 54% of the population was born outside the UK, mainly India, Pakistan, Bangladesh. It comes in the top five and beats the national averages by some margin. It used to be one of the lowest performing boroughs.

Once schools in a borough take off like this and achieve top results, the knock-on effect creates a positive peer pressure effect in the classroom. The pupils and their parents will want to keep it that way. Newham can proudly be destined for the top slot in the future. And additionally, plenty of career minded children with the qualifications to add to the workplace.

MartavTaurus at 8.27 , absolutely correct.
No 'selection' but a great result, and should be applauded.

MartavTaurus

The Michaela school is not one that I would necessarily choose for my own children, but it's worth reminding critics that every top private school and grammar school in the country has strict entry requirements to achieve the best possible grades.
So, why then is it that when an inner-city state school in Wembley holds local, working-class children to the exact same elite standards, critics refuse to see it as excellence?

It should be applauded for giving these children the opportunities they might otherwise be offered and should be held up as an example of what can be achieved.

I've just been talking to friends today whose grandson went to a primary school, the aim of which, apparently, was for the children to be happy. If they did not want to work they need not do so. No-one wants a child to be unhappy at school but there must be a balance, surely? He's being moved to another school next term which believes in encouraging children to achieve their potential.
Both are state schools.

"It should be applauded for giving these children the opportunities they might otherwise be offered"

Sorry - It should be applauded for giving these children the opportunities they might NOT otherwise be offered

Yes, there should be a balance.
The trick is to find it.
Hope the change works for that child.

Maremia

Yes, there should be a balance.
The trick is to find it.
Hope the change works for that child.

I'm sure it will, I've met him and he's a very bright child who has faced a lot in his life but come through.