Stories + Views: Private Schools

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John Breadon: State-educated, now working in the independent sector. Not an easy shift to have made …

Attended a Northern Irish Secondary School until 16, then a local Grammar School for A levels. Now a Chaplain at Eton College tasked to build better relationships with local state schools through an new SMSC development project (The Wisdom Project, ) I'm interested in having an open and honest dialogue about the future of schooling (what IS a good education in ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "Hello John, Welcome to this community. The Wisdom Project describes it's values in this way: "There can be no neutral position from which to live life – how we live tells us much about what we hold to be true. It is one of ......"

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Melissa Benn: Selective judgements

Today, the Sutton Trust publishes a report on the issue of ‘selective comprehensives’ which is getting a lot of publicity, including a spirited, but somewhat partial, debate on the Today programme, which led to the usual suggestion of increased ballotting and random allocation in order to enable more poor children access to 'good schools.' The report looks at ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Roger Titcombe: "Sorry Melissa and Helen Jarvis - It is not a minor point. I should have been more careful...."

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Tom London: Some people loath Michael Gove but others love him. The explanation lies in the educatiuonal apartheid between state and private education.

The “Michael Gove mystery” is how the same politician can be so loathed and so admired at the same time. The answer to the mystery lies in the educational apartheid between the private and state sectors, which has far greater importance in the UK than in any other country in Europe. In the UK, 7% of children attend private schools and ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Adrian Elliott: "Ah Melanie Phillips, that scourge of standards in the English classroom,who wrote in her book 'Londistan' that muslim immigrants in the sixties came to work in the 'cotton mills' of Bradford and Rotherham! She then repeated ......"

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Melissa Benn: Unnerving Thought For The Day: wealth secures educational advantage!

Surreal discussion on the Today programme this morning on the sharp rise in private tutoring, particularly in London. The item was based on an Evening Standard article, which reported complaints from Ben Thomas, head of prep school Thomas’s Battersea, that there is now far too much tutoring in the capital — and that pupils’ childhoods are being “swallowed up” because ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Ernest Blackledge: "Buying expensive houses close to state schools and spending swingeing sums on private tuition for those same state pupils is by far and away the most pernicious example of wealth buying educational advantage. It is also the most selfish and parasitical ......"

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Katherine Lawson: Private vs state schools again?

Our Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, may choose to send his children to private secondary schools. On his weekly phone-in on LBC he said "It's not about whether it's private or public – in that sense you're right, it can be either. I just want the best for my child, and that's exactly what I think most people listening to ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Warwick Cairns: ""Let him send his children where he wishes, it’s his business and that’s that." Well, it would be if he hadn't talked about the state-private divide as being "corrosive for our society and damaging to our economy." The problem is not ......"

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Roger Titcombe: Twigg wants to militarise our schools

According to Twigg, "State schools should copy the private sector by setting up army cadet forces to help build self discipline in their pupils", Labour said yesterday as reported in the Independent (18 January). This has got to be the most depressing piece of Labour education policy since Blair imposed academies on us. It is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG Behaviourism does not build self-discipline. ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Francis Gilbert: "I agree Roger that this sort of language is very troubling, and suggests very little divide between Labour and the Conservatives. We desperately need a sensible progressive voice about education which speaks for the ignored majority who want a system ......"

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Martin Campbell: ASA Censures Seckford Over Second Misleading Ad

After trouble with the Advertising Standards Authority last year over improper use of the phrase "outstanding school" despite not having been judged so by Ofsted, Suffolk's troubled education provider, The Seckford Foundation Free Schools Trust, has once again fallen foul of the ad regulator in a ruling published yesterday. The controversial organisation runs two undersized secondary schools in Beccles and Saxmundham, ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "The ASA has censured the Seckford Foundation again. This time it was because the Foundation made a claim which the ASA ruled "over simplified the actual situation with regard to the allocation of secondary school places that would be ......"

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Janet Downs: There’s no magic bullet to raising educational performance, says EIU report

Number-crunching by the EIU found that when results of three international tests PISA (reading, maths, science), TIMSS (maths, science) and PIRLS (reading) were combined with literacy and graduation rates the UK came sixth in the world. The report, however, is more than a database – it tries to discover the elusive qualities of high-performing school systems. The two countries listed first, ... read more and comment →

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Janet Downs: “State sector’s inefficient culture makes me sick,” says new director at profit-making provider of independent schools

The new director of education at private equity-owned Cognita, Geraint Jones, told TES that the “State sector’s inefficient culture makes me sick”. He’s referring to tasks listed in the “Raising standards and tackling workload: a national agreement” signed in 2003 following a PriceWaterhouseCoopers report which recommended that many jobs done by teachers did not require professional expertise and could be done ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Special Needs Teaching Assitant - it is not acceptable that TAs are expected or required to do professional work which should be done by teachers. No TA should be expected to teach classes. This may be more "efficient" ......"

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Fiona Millar: A charity or a business?

As I was making my way to the swimming pool at the crack of dawn last week, I caught this interview on the BBC's Today programme under the heading "Boss of the Week". The boss in question was Helen Fraser, CEO of the Girls' Day School Trust,  an organisation billed as having a £200million turnover each year and "billions' in assets. The ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "Finbar can you tell me which extreme and outrageous comments you're concerned about? I'm ATL too and I'm trying to separate the man from the myth (see the video below for a start). One things which has improved this year is that ......"

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