Two comprehensive parents here...no grammar schools in the areas that we grew up in, and both families could never have afforded private schools, so comprehensive was the only option for both of us.
We chose grammars for our kids because we didn't have any real choice...couldnt afford private and of our 12 closest schools 5 are grammars or faith schools (not our faith). Of the 7 comps, we're too far away to get a place at all but one of them, and that one is not able to meet the SEN requirements of our kids. Their SEN support seems to be good for other types of SEN, but when we spoke to them it was very clear that they didn't know how to cope with DS or DD's needs, and additionally that school would have entailed an awkward public bus journey with a change. That leaves us with the chance at 2 comps...both over an hour away...(not within our closest 12 schools!)
As such, we had the option for 2 grammar schools within a 20 minute walk, 2 grammars within a 15 minute bus ride, 3 grammars within a 45 minute bus ride (all grammars on public bus routes) or 2 comprehensives by less than reliable coach an hour away. Given that both kids were well within the top sets of their large primary cohort, the test felt like a no brainer just from the perspective of reducing their commute.
Still feels ridiculous that we have a good number of my kids primary classmates going over an hour each way on the coach to secondary and their current classmates travelling over an hour each way from neighbouring cities to come to grammars. All in all, we wish we'd not moved to a grammar area, but at the time we didn't know that grammars still existed.
We chose grammars for our kids because we didn't have any real choice...couldnt afford private and of our 12 closest schools 5 are grammars or faith schools (not our faith). Of the 7 comps, we're too far away to get a place at all but one of them, and that one is not able to meet the SEN requirements of our kids. Their SEN support seems to be good for other types of SEN, but when we spoke to them it was very clear that they didn't know how to cope with DS or DD's needs, and additionally that school would have entailed an awkward public bus journey with a change. That leaves us with the chance at 2 comps...both over an hour away...(not within our closest 12 schools!)
As such, we had the option for 2 grammar schools within a 20 minute walk, 2 grammars within a 15 minute bus ride, 3 grammars within a 45 minute bus ride (all grammars on public bus routes) or 2 comprehensives by less than reliable coach an hour away. Given that both kids were well within the top sets of their large primary cohort, the test felt like a no brainer just from the perspective of reducing their commute.
Still feels ridiculous that we have a good number of my kids primary classmates going over an hour each way on the coach to secondary and their current classmates travelling over an hour each way from neighbouring cities to come to grammars. All in all, we wish we'd not moved to a grammar area, but at the time we didn't know that grammars still existed.
Statistics: Posted by 2Socks — Mon Aug 19, 2024 8:54 am