It’s still happening? Really? You’d see a lot of lads/girls in schools these days with outrageous enough hair.
Well it’s the top ranked state school in greater Manchester. It’s all a bit mental, but grammar schools over here are selective, so they set their own entrance exams and pick accordingly. They are at the mercy of the exam tables, a farcical exercise, but essentially all schools results are published at inter and leaving cert, and schools ranked accordingly. There is zero taking into account of improvement, holistic education, sport, selection of pupils, nothing, but amongst the sharp elbowed middle classes, this is the Bible.
To confuse matters further, Grammar schools can be fee paying, or free. Between the jigs and reels, it’s about twenty grand a year for a fee paying school. Secondary schools last about seven years, so it’s 140 grand. Hence the madness to get kids into alty grammar as it’s results match those of the good private schools, but it’s free. They achieve this with a ruthless selection policy with kids coming from miles and miles away to sit the exam. It is locally weighted, so families rent flats in the area to game the system. It’s such bedlam, with kids getting physically ill with nerves, that we didn’t send ours. Pretty much every child sitting this exam will have had specific private tutoring for it for two years.
We got our lass a tutor for an hour on a Saturday for six months for the free Catholic grammar school, and she passed bless her, but it was two tram rides, and there’s a really good school down the road so we sent her there. She likes it.
It gets better. The high ranked schools at a level, both private and state, kick all the kids out after intercert who they think won’t do well.
In my lads school, both the kids and the parents have been told in no uncertain terms that if they don’t get an average of an A grade across every subject he’s out. We’ve already applied for another school for a levels.
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Flatty Jnr. putting in the hard yards before attaining a cabinet portfolio, possibly in rural tourism. He might become the British equivalent of a Healy-Rae or Mattie McGrath.
It’s not easy obviously in the Manchester educational sector.
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Eye-opening.
Is the lad in a fee-paying school?
He is, but it’s actually the handiest school also. The lass is also.
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you hardly expected flatty to send the child to a state school
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I knew you’d not be long in the door 
Flatty in truth had little choice in the matter.
I just sign the cheques round here mate.
Amateur hour
Interesting social experiment going on in the household! Would you see much difference in how rounded they are beyond academic pursuits given how different a schooling environment they are both in?
School sounds great but he still went to the artic circle for a fortnight with only one pair of underpants so not sure they are covering all the common sense requirements
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Ah now, sure we all went to the article circle for a fortnight without changing our underwear when we were 16.
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He also had two (2) pairs. One came back unused.
The Highlands hike was ten days. He came back with nine clean pairs.
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Its really none of my business!
Found it a bit of an eye opener myself that he doesn’t employ a governess.
You don’t really think my darling wife would send her son to a private school, and not her daughter?
The old blame the wife trick.
True in this case 100%
Anyhow, I’d rather they were in school in Ireland but 🤷
They could be in Laurel Hill and Ard Scoil Ris by now but the missus knew better.
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Would never have got into ASR. Didn’t even bother to visit. We were told there was no chance at all.
Very enlightening a good read that
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