My friends son who is six has been identified as being talented and gifted at school. He was taken to Bridgewater School today to sit an entry test which he passed with flying colours. They said they would accept him as soon as after the next half term in Feb.

 

The problem is that there are no subsidised places until he reaches yr7. It will cost her ?600 a month to send him. She is dead set on sending him which means living on the poverty line for the next god knows how many years....she is a single parent so money is a big issue.

 

Is there any other way she can apply for help with her sons place at this school?

I can see the merit though in weeding out the thick feckers.

 

Best performing LEA in the country? Trafford

 

Reason? Still have 11+ .

Edited January 25, 200818 yr by mickbrown

It just goes to show that it's a rich mans world out there.

 

This really ikes me big time! It's no wonder working class family kids are underachieving as apposed to the rich little puffs that Daddy takes to private school in his huuuuuge 4x4!

 

Don't agree with all of that either - first of all it aint the kid's fault that Mummy & Daddy have cash, so calling them a puff is a bit harsh.

 

If the kid is bright and "underachieves" there could be a million reasons for it irrespecetive of which school they went to.

 

I used to play football with kids that went to Stockport and Manc Grammar schools and more than half of them ended up doing fook all with their lives, one of them even enjoys shifting class A's as his full-time employment.

 

Now there were plenty of lads like that at my State High School too, but there was also plenty that did achieve too.

Don't agree with all of that either - first of all it aint the kid's fault that Mummy & Daddy have cash, so calling them a puff is a bit harsh.

If the kid is bright and "underachieves" there could be a million reasons for it irrespecetive of which school they went to.

I used to play football with kids that went to Stockport and Manc Grammar schools and more than half of them ended up doing fook all with their lives, one of them even enjoys shifting class A's as his full-time employment.

Now there were plenty of lads like that at my State High School too, but there was also plenty that did achieve too.

 

Spot on Jules What we need is choice, not a mandatory state system. Look what that did for the USSR.

All the money in the world may buy your kid 5 terms at a top rated school but it won't make him/her bright. Irrespective of the school, the cream always rises to the top. It's the natural order of things.

Spot on Jules What we need is choice, not a mandatory state system. Look what that did for the USSR.

All the money in the world may buy your kid 5 terms at a top rated school but it won't make him/her bright. Irrespective of the school, the cream always rises to the top. It's the natural order of things.

 

Nah, mandatory state all the way, then onto the Gulags comrades!

People need to realise that qualifications and letters after your name are not the be all and end all of a succesful life. This Government would have you think you need a qualification in arse wiping to go to the toilet properly.

 

Its all a big load of f?cking hairy bollocks.

 

Anybody can be anything if they put their minds to it and work hard enough. Luck and chance will then automatically run parrallel.

 

Which school you go to has f?ck all to do with it.

Private eduaction is the biggest load of bollocks this country has ever had to put up with. This doesn't happen in France when the state schools are the best in the country. I don't see why, by dint of wealth, some children are given a head start in life regardless of academic ability. The fact that Cambridge now proudly boast that 50% of their undergraduates come from state schools show how much those in private education are favoured. You often see those how went to Harrow, Ardlingly, Eton turn up at one of our great institutions with no more than 3 C's at A Level. The local comps are fine, if he's that bright he will succeed anyway and maybe have a job cleaning theatre seats for a living.

 

The bit in bold is nonsense.

 

The situation in Cambridge now has pretty much reached the stage of discrimination against those from private schools in some colleges.

 

 

 

Anyway... on the matter of funding for places at private schools for those that can't afford it.

 

For years, something called the 'assisted places' scheme ran for gifted kids with limited resources. One of the first things that the boys in red did when they got in 1997 was to abolish this scheme, at the behest of plenty of their small minded back-benchers.

The bit in bold is nonsense.

 

The situation in Cambridge now has pretty much reached the stage of discrimination against those from private schools in some colleges.

 

That's outrageous!

 

Suggest you start a campaign against it M'crayons, you tit.

That's outrageous!

 

Suggest you start a campaign against it M'crayons, you tit.

 

I see - discrimination is only a bad thing in one direction.

 

I'd suggest it would be a step forward if universities weren't allowed to know which school their applicants attended.

I see - discrimination is only a bad thing in one direction.

 

I'd suggest it would be a step forward if universities weren't allowed to know which school their applicants attended.

 

You have a point & I was a little harsh, apologies. However you might see the schadenfreude in seeing a group which has enjoyed the benefits of discrimination reacting against a perceived discrimation against them.

You have a point & I was a little harsh, apologies. However you might see the schadenfreude in seeing a group which has enjoyed the benefits of discrimination reacting against a perceived discrimation against them.

 

It would be a hell of a kick in the teeth though wouldn't it, to the the single mum who has skrimped and saved to send her bright kid to private school, because she believed she was doing the best thing for that kid in making those sacrifices, only for the kid to lose out to someone educated in the state sector because positive discrimination towards him/her by one of the top universities?

It would be a hell of a kick in the teeth though wouldn't it, to the the single mum who has skrimped and saved to send her bright kid to private school, because she believed she was doing the best thing for that kid in making those sacrifices, only for the kid to lose out to someone educated in the state sector because positive discrimination towards him/her by one of the top universities?

 

Indeed it would be but that is hardly a typical scenario. Put the violin away.

Indeed it would be but that is hardly a typical scenario. Put the violin away.

 

The fact is, there is no 'typical scenario', most generalisations are ill advised, and each case should be judged entirely on its merits, completely ignoring the name of a school.

 

 

Ordinary people people making significant sacrifices to put their kids through private schools because they don't fancy the alternatives is actually a fairly common scenario - it's not all Ruperts in Mercedes 4x4s.

Ordinary people people making significant sacrifices to put their kids through private schools because they don't fancy the alternatives is actually a fairly common scenario - it's not all Ruperts in Mercedes 4x4s.

 

That was where I was going when I told Sue she wasn't quite right, at the start of the thread.

That was where I was going when I told Sue she wasn't quite right, at the start of the thread.

 

Well we got there in the end :p

Well we got there in the end :p

 

It was never in doubt.

What does your friends son want to do?

Plastering

What does your friends son want to do?

 

Got me to thinking that did Melbourne. When my lad had to go and see the careers officer down here, I had to go with him. Walked in and he said 'what would you like to do Alex?'. The look on his face when son replied 'fitter/machinists apprenticeship' was a bloody classic. Broke into a big grin and talked excitedly about opportunities.

 

Went on to tell me that from a hundred kids, 98 wanted to be marine biologists. Interestingly, there are two vacancies each year in the whole of Australia for marine biologists. The lad was switched on - mechanical engineering fitter / machinists are close to the highest earners down here these days.

 

State high school by the way.

Is a marine biologist in 2007 the equivalent of a graphic designer in 1997?

Is a marine biologist in 2007 the equivalent of a graphic designer in 1997?

 

them fooking pointless careers databases they had you use at high school had me as a marine biologist or oceanographer.

 

because i said i like being out doors, despite the fact i fookin hated biology.

 

 

Smiffs as construction mon what do you make of these new GCSE's/O Levels they're bringing in. Where instead of all kids doing academic stuff those who aren't academic or don't want to be academic do vocational qualifications in useful things like building, mechanics, catering etc etc?

Smiffs as construction mon what do you make of these new GCSE's/O Levels they're bringing in. Where instead of all kids doing academic stuff those who aren't academic or don't want to be academic do vocational qualifications in useful things like building, mechanics, catering etc etc?

 

I know you were asking Smiffs, Frank, but I'm going to get my twopenn'orth in here. Ditching the useless academic shiyte is a great thing in my book. Happened to me in the 70's. Lucky enough to get into the front end of a Technicians course instead of doing the HNC or HND. It was excellent and concentrated on practical stuff which has definitely been useful in the career in the gear industry.

 

To this day, I am still b0llocksed as to why anyone, other than a microscopic minority, needs to know calculus? When I was at BCGS, they were still teaching Latin. WTF for?

Edited January 27, 200818 yr by bolty58

When I was at BCGS, they were still teaching Latin. WTF for?

It was a study of Roman history as well as a language.And also a study of Roman writings/poetry so a bit like English literature but in Roman material.History and English Literature are considered worthwhile subjects so why not Roman history and Roman literature.

CWP probably doesn't believe i did Latin after my attempt to pluralise Rothmans though.

It was a study of Roman history as well as a language.And also a study of Roman writings/poetry so a bit like English literature but in Roman material.History and English Literature are considered worthwhile subjects so why not Roman history and Roman literature.

CWP probably doesn't believe i did Latin after my attempt to pluralise Rothmans though.

 

 

George, Latin is a fcuking useless as Welsh. End of.

George, Latin is a fcuking useless as Welsh. End of.

 

Unless your a welsh doctor.

George, Latin is a fcuking useless as Welsh. End of.

 

You could read the old testiment that St Jerome translated from Greek which had been translated from Hebrew, then you could translate it into english

 

Makes it all worth while