Primary Schools in kent Pt3

The next stage of this saga has seen me and my wife investigating private education, and have found a small private primary school (annual intake of 14) whose results and efforts are going to be worth the annual expense.

We are viewing the school this Wednesday, and if it meets our expectations, then my wife will be working just to pay for private education.

pete_darby (194.60.106.5)

30th Apr, 2007 13:48 (local)

Sounds like a great alternative, but the loss of an income can be hard hit. Any bursaries or grants available?

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lawbag (217.36.27.65)

30th Apr, 2007 15:23 (local)

Hopefully my wife will be earning more than the schooling cost. But this school in question has a 100% success rate in all the key stages, and the exit route for all 14 children is a grammar school, of which in Dartford there is a very good one for girls which is free.

I will look, thanks, at both grants and bursaries, and also see how the school can help with the costs.

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w00hoo (86.136.243.26)

30th Apr, 2007 16:32 (local)

It was suggested to us (too late to use the advice though) that if you have an accountant whose work you trust, it is worth paying them to do the work on the Bursary form because it's very likely to pay back dividends with the offer. I know we wouldn't be using private education if we couldn't of got a bursary.

Best of luck with it all.

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Primary Schools in Kent Pt2

Seeing as my daughter had already been allocated what everyone knew was the worst performing and least desirable Primary School in Dartford, and considering that the headteacher had taken offense when we said as much to her on the phone, my wife thought she would inspect the venue, after all, our daughter may end up going there, and maybe it wasnt THAT bad.

What she saw there shocked her terribly. Lacklustre children with no passion for living let alone learning, small stuffy rooms that reeked on decay, NO computer room, no computer assisted learning systems, a special Time-Out room they seemed proud of for handling difficult kids (that should read difficult CLASSES), children who didnt respond to any form of pleasantry from either the teachers or head teachers.

Sickening. This wasnt a school, rather it was a government funded, government run death camp for children.

pete_darby (194.60.106.5)

24th Apr, 2007 11:26 (local)

And they were happy to show her round? Christ on a bike, they really are clueless.

Suddenly very glad of the tiny village primary school I went to... not great for academics, but pretty OK for Joi de vivre.

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w00hoo (86.136.243.26)

24th Apr, 2007 16:38 (local)

I guess with local government elections coming up you could have a go at getting candidates to tell you what they intend to do about local education, possibly if you try really hard you could even get them to meet you at the school! IIRC you've a couple of years to go before she gets there so I guess you could try and argue the whole 'choice' thing that the government constantly talks about and see if that gets you anywhere.

Final options, if both of you don't work one of you could volunteer at the school, or there's always the good ole middle class method of moving house. Both a bit extreme I know, but options none the less.

The other thing worth considering (which we didn't do when we went through he process of getting our son in to a good Primary school is if they have links to a secondary school that will limit your choice at that level, you really need plan that far ahead.

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Primary Schools in Kent Pt1

Im kinda pissed off right now, and this isnt the normal place for me to let of some serious steam, but fuck you.

Our daughter has just dropped off the bottom of the Primary Schools Admission process, been eaten up and shat out like a turd.

For those of you who dont know, in the UK we have a system whereby parents are given choices to which primary (ages 5-11) school they would like their child to attend, and there are several criteria, none of which are academic, as to which children get in and which ones dont.

As is the usual, there are good schools and there are bad schools. Unfortunately the nearest school to us (and there are over 40 listed as being in our area for us to apply) is one of the least successful schools in terms of performance and reputation. So like a good parent, my wife and I, when not worrying about the congestion charge, went and visited several schools for a visit. At every meeting with the head teacher they were being informed by the education authority that expected intake this year is going to be lower than previous years. Based on this information we choose 3 of the schools, which sadly we didnt get any of them on our allocation.

In fact we were not consulted, but rather GIVEN a school, which was the closest, and least desirable school we could imagine.

So they writing and reasoned ranting begins again. We intend to appeal to the 3 schools who said no, as well as speaking to our local MP, Howard Stoate and also the Kent Education Authority. It would intake this year has been one of the highest ever seen, so how could they get it SO wrong by reducing the number of places. Education (allegedly) is all about choice, and yes while we were given a choice, I believe it was just smoke and mirrors and our daughter had already been allocated a "cheap" seat months ago.

pete_darby (194.60.106.5)

4th Apr, 2007 14:06 (local)

Good luck with that: as you probably know from my rantings, I think there's nothing more important than education.

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lawbag (86.132.97.107)

5th Apr, 2007 09:24 (local)

For both our daughters we intend to fight to ensure they get a fair education.

I recall you education at home, or want to? Its an avenue me and the wife have considered as well as a local Public Primary School, but at £3,500 per term, it would mean whatever my wife earned, would be spent on Polly.

We intend to appeal all 3 schools, as well as put her name down on the waiting lists, but in the meantime if she ends up in this "less than perfect" school, I will be on the headteacher's case like a bad case of eczema.

The headteacher is a public servant like any other and will be accountable to me like any other...

Like I said at the beginning of this post I didnt want this blog to become a schooling rant, but Im fully expecting this wont be the last one.

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pete_darby (194.60.106.5)

5th Apr, 2007 09:27 (local)

Yeah, I do home ed, but that knocks one of us (currently my other half) out of earning.

And yes, the whole "public servant" thing has been lost as NuLab has moved us closer to the Spartan Ideal...

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lawbag (86.132.97.107)

5th Apr, 2007 13:54 (local)

I take my hat off to you both.

My concern with home education is that the Government send inspectors around to your house to evaluate more harshly the progress of your child, as opposed to the evaluation of the very schools you opted out of.

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pete_darby (194.60.106.5)

5th Apr, 2007 14:09 (local)

They try, they get turned away, I know my rights....

Though they're trying to get the law changed because, err, inspections never stopped Eunice Spry... sorry, I meant, they never saved Victoria Climbie.... oh, what was it again, oh yes, we're dedicated to bringing the world of Terry Gilliam's Brazil to life, that's it...

youts,

Harry Buttle.

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