Finding A Secondary School

How early should I start thinking about a secondary school for my child?

Secondary schools will generally come with the primary school, in the state sector. You're looking at schools which will select geographically, where you have chosen for a primary school will have a secondary school advocated with it. You should, when you've been thinking of where you should live generally, if that's the decision you've taken, have looked at what the secondary schools are like. So you've probably taken the decision some long while before, that this is an area we like because the secondary schools are good. You can look anytime, if it's a question of moving. If you're looking at an academic school or a selective school in the private sector, then often you don't have to look far in advance. You may be able to get all the lists as late as a year before your child is likely to go. Some of the very selective schools, three, four years ahead, but not much more than that.

What age does my child go to secondary school?

Generally, it's 11. Most schools now let you in at that age. Some of the private schools will take you a bit earlier than that. There's a tradition among all these private schools that you should go at 13, but 11 is almost universally now the age at which people go to schools.

What should I consider when looking for secondary schools?

Your child is getting to the stage where you can really recognize what their characters like. You can begin to make a judgment on what sort of environment will suit them, but you're looking for a school which will respond to that particular character, the values, what they are, what they're good at, and what they're like. That's really the core to finding a school which will suit your child well.

What is setting and streaming?

The comprehensive school ideal was that children of all sorts, all academic abilities, all backgrounds would be lumped together in a classroom and taught by a teacher each according to her needs. And that is a principle which is extremely difficult to put into practice, because actually children move at different paces at different times in their lives. They want to be focusing on the problem that is giving them jip and not on something they solved six months ago or is six months too advanced for them. So, if you're going to really effectively teach pupils in a mixed school, then you've got to find some way of giving them common level so that they can all be working together on a particular set of problems. There are two basic ways of doing that. One is streaming, and that says that you've got a big school and you say: 'Right, we've got the top stream and the bottom stream.' And the bottom stream move at slow pace and the top stream move at a fast pace, and it's almost like having a grammar school within a comprehensive school. That can be tough, just the same way as grammar schools are, because you get into the top stream but you're useless at French. You never really learn any because you're being pushed far too hard. Or you're in the bottom stream because you're bad at French, and actually, your mathematics is wonderful even though you've got no chance to learn it. So, in most comprehensive schools, you'll find much more setting, which means that you will be in the top set for Maths if that's what you're wonderful at. But, if you need to take French at a slower pace, you'll be in the third set or the fourth set for that. That seems to be very well accepted by children. They're happy because they're being taught at a pace that suits them, and they're not ashamed of the fact that for a particular subject they're not top set.

What are mixed ability classes?

Mixed ability classes are classes where you've got pupils who are highly academic and pupils who are much less academic mixed in together, and there are circumstances where that's fine, such as if you're all experiencing a performance for Shakespeare drama, or watching a film together, or doing something which each can appreciate in their own way and join in in their own way. Art classes can be mixed ability with no trouble at all, with everyone moving at their own pace because you're not having to follow instructions from a teacher at the same pace as everybody else. If it's particular subjects, particular circumstances, or particular bits of subjects, they can work very well, but if you get something where pupils are being instructed and are being expected to keep up with a teacher at a particular pace, then it gets extremely difficult to manage. This is because either the class slows down to keep up with the slower people and the brighter ones get bored, or it keeps up with the brighter people and those who can't keep up find themselves at an enormous disadvantage and just sitting at the back completely disconnected from what's going on. So it's a technique to be used with great care. There are still a lot of schools where it's used too much and where you get disaffection either among the academically gifted or among those who need additional help spreading through the school and really causing a lot of trouble. So it's something to be careful of, and if you're going around a school, if you're seeing a lot of that happening, if you're told a lot of that is happening, you need to watch out very carefully for the effects of it, which are likely to be showing in bad behavior and underachievement. There are some schools which manage it with extraordinary teachers and great dedication. It's wonderful when it can happen, but it is a very special and unusual thing when it does.

What are vocational exams and are they useful?

Most exams in England and in even Scotland worlds and Northern Ireland are academic in focus. They originated from exams which were building up to university entrance and they are focused on academic learning. Other European countries have a much more mixed economy, where there are many forms of examination which focus much more on vocational skills. Whether it's pure vocational things like hairdressing, beauty therapy or what ever else it might be, so much more practical experience coming into the academic curriculum. So, that you might rather than studying physics be studying engineering and really getting your hands around some problems in the physical world, and that is something that's been lacking in England. We've now got to move to try and create a set of vocational examinations in England in particular, but also in Scotland which will suit those children with a more practical vent. It's very unclear quite where that's going to go. If you are faced with looking at a school which offers vocational examinations, the key thing to ask is, where do those children go on to? There are good ones and bad ones, and there's good teaching and bad teaching, it's very difficult to know, in any formulaic way, what you're being offered in a school. If something is being offered that is vocational than that ought to be resulting in children going on to do things that are associated with that later on in the school. Vocational things are much more related to the real world than academic subjects are. The school really ought to be developing links with the real world, and there ought to be clear histories of people who have taken these exams and succeeded in doing things. So yes, vocational exams if that's what your child is suited to, but make absolutely sure that it's being followed through in to a connection with the real world- so that these kids aren't just being left with what is; on its own, still, a second class qualification, in so far as most people in this country are concerned.

How much say should my child have in choosing their own secondary school?

I don't think you should ever let your child have that responsibility. It's far too much weight to put on the shoulders of an 11 year old, as to, do they take that course or do they take another? You should listen to your child, you should involve your child, you should take what they said into account. Absolutely. Because they will be telling you things about school that you don't sense anymore. Particularly if you are taking your child around with you. They will be getting a feel of how they as a personality will fit in with the personality of the school. That will come through to them much more directly than it will to you. So listening to them, fine. But if they take a liking to a particular school because they happened to see some kids blowing bubble gum and they'd love to be allowed to do that, but you really don't want to put them inside – No. It's got to be your decision. But listen to them.

There are no good secondary schools in our local area. What can we do?

Plan ahead, because if you're stuck there, having to move a child at eleven and you haven't got access to a good secondary school, then you are going to have a hard life. Not necessarily an unsuccessful life, but you're going to have to give your child and the school a lot of support to make the best of your life. But if you're looking ahead you can choose where you live and be next to a good secondary school, or you can get religion and have access to their much wider networks. If you've got a selective academic school within reach, start tutoring and preparing your child for their entrance exams, so that you've got options if you think ahead.