‘How does the 11+ promote social fairness?’
As a twin I was faced with the despair of my twin going to grammar and myself, having failed the test, going to one of the roughest schools in the country. I am now an assistant head of a primary school that feeds into grammar schools.
I see so many children whose parents do not play the system and who cannot afford tutoring fail to make it. And I see pupils who are tutored for a year and end up passing the 11+. How is this promoting social fairness? Other schools in the area end up having poor relationships with grammar schools or end up as sink schools.
I feel grammar schools are more divisive than ever. At least everyone had a level playing field 30 years ago when everyone took the test.
Andy, Hatchard
‘I feel grammar schools have a major social impact in my area’
From my experience of attending both a secondary school and a grammar school, I feel that the grammar school I attended clearly had greater resources available. Students at the grammar school had a wider selection of courses to choose from, for example the choice of taking French plus German, Spanish and/or Latin at GCSE.
Whereas at the secondary school I attended up to GCSE, we were assigned either French or German to study when we entered the school. Furthermore, at the secondary school we undertook a generic double science GCSE and a humanities GCSE. Conversely, the grammar school offered the three sciences separately (a student could take them all) and the three humanities separately.
I feel grammar schools have a major social impact in my area. For some students who “failed” their 11+ there is an ongoing influence. It is difficult to forget that you failed an important test at the age of 11, which led to your class splitting and the “clever” children going to grammar schools, and the “stupid” children not. I would certainly say that in the area I grew up in, there is stigma attached to “failing” your 11+.
JMC, Buckinghamshire
‘His tutor said four months would unlikely be enough’
We lived in Wallington, where there is unusually, I think, six grammar schools in the area so we had high hopes for our son getting into one. We applied for two but quickly realised that his primary school would offer no help in preparation, and in fact didn’t even talk about the opportunity to the kids; I believe that in five years they’d only sent one child to a grammar school.
We felt we had no option but to get him some private tutoring, for which there is a thriving industry in the area. The tutor we chose had had previous success but told us the four or so months she had to work with him would unlikely be enough. We worked him hard, as did the tutor, and we gave him as good a run-up as we could, but we were dismayed on the day of the exam to see hundreds and hundreds of other boys turning up, and after speaking to other parents realised they were coming from as far away as Brighton and Birmingham.
Most kids from out of the area seemed well schooled in the process and the exams, while a lot of the local ones seemed like they were giving it a go but with low expectations, and so it was. My son got close but with only 150 or so places and around 10 times that taking the exams, he fell short by around 30 places in the ranking.
It was frustrating to say the least that being in the area actually acted as a handbrake rather than an advantage, as a large number of local primary schools couldn’t set the kids up to take the exams, and for most it wasn’t even thought about as a possibility, despite it being on their doorstep. We were left facing dropping from a grammar school with 100% achievement in exams, down to a choice of schools with half that success rate, and so we moved away from the area.
Alistair Anderson, Bedfordshire
‘I was pushed to reach my full potential, which was ideal for me’
I didn’t enjoy my time at my single-sex grammar school, partly because of the narrow-minded way of teaching. We were taught the only way to progress in life was to go to university, with no advice given on apprenticeships.
That being said, I wouldn’t have traded my time for, say, the other local schools. The university route was ideal for me and I was pushed to reach my full potential, and after achieving a first at a Russell Group university, I am now undertaking a PhD funded by two competitive scholarships. I felt bad for others who weren’t that way inclined, as they did not get support.
I do think grammar schools are open to everyone. I come from a working-class background. Neither of my parents went to university and this was the same for many of my friends while I was there. Sure, there were some students who came from more privileged backgrounds, but I am not sure if they were a majority or not.
Anonymous, Manchester
‘I was a very high achiever but was still coached to “make sure”’
Living in Bexley, the grammar school system was deeply rooted in our psyches during primary school. The 11+ was seen as some perverse rite of passage for many and I can remember my mother explaining to me the amount of tutoring some of the other children in my school had in order to secure places.
My own time at grammar school was all in all an excellent experience, the opportunities given to us were huge and we were encouraged to aim for only Russell Group universities if possible. Looking back now it’s sad but there certainly was an antipathy towards those who didn’t study in grammars and I can vividly remember some of the more sickening chants when we played rugby against local comprehensives: “You’ve got more STDs than GCSEs.”
I was a very high achiever at primary school but, regardless, I was still coached for the 11+, in my mother’s words, to “make sure”. The pressure on us was huge to do well in the exam and our entire year five geared up towards this. The amount of children with me who underwent tutoring was incredible and many of my colleagues at grammar school even noted they did not belong there, instead finding the pace too much.
Robert, London
