Grammar Schools...... would you like to see a return?

Posted too soon.
Our other daughter failed the 11+ and went on to do her ‘A’ levels at the grammar school round the corner and from then on, Manchester uni to do a 4 year teacher training degree and is now a deputy head. So I dare say, if the student is focussed, either system works?

The Grammar School which I went to in Torquay in the 1940/1950's is still there, thankfully. And long may it remain.
I firmly believe in the possibility of a different school for some pupils. We are not all the same.

The Grammar that I and my sisters attended is now an all ability School , but it’s streamed , so what’s the difference ? I’m really out of touch with Education

We still have the 11+ and the grammar school system here in Trafford. Some are co-ed one is girls only and one is boys only (Altrincham, Cheshire). I think we have 8 grammar schools locally. I remember our HR department at the hospital where I worked for many years saying that’s what attracted so many doctors for recruitment as their families would be in a non-fee paying catchment areas in Trafford!

Further afield, Greater Manchester such as Bury for example have fee-paying grammar schools.

I went to one of the grammar schools in Trafford, as did my sister and one of our daughters went to a different one.

I agree with you Blinko.

They were very good for some (me!) and not a good system for the also rans (my sister) who got the secondary modern.

Probably you expect your granddaughter to get into the Grammar in her area. I wonder how you’ll feel about it, if she’s not one of the chosen? Will you be happy for her to be in the “comprehensive” with others who were judged not bright enough to benefit from an academic education?

It is elitist in that it works well for a chosen minority.

Someone - was it Harold Wilson? - said that Grammar Schools were the greatest experiment in social mobility in our lifetime. I'd like to see both Grammar and Comprehensive Schools running across the country to give people the best opportunity to achieve the best for each child as an individual.

The more academically inclined could gravitate to the Grammar School, the more practical or technically gifted could gain a sound education in the Comprehensive School.

They would need to be viewed as of equal educational value though, not as being in competition with each other.

I know (former) teachers will have views on this. It has probably been rehashed before on GN.