Wellington College

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Janet Downs: “No confidence,” “Appalling”, “Unfair” – heads discuss GCSE grades on Newsnight

It’s a question of fairness, said Stephen Twigg, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, on Newsnight (31 August 2012). His views were echoed by two students, Manal Jinidi and Mohammad Kadiye, who just missed out on a C grade in English. Head of Burlington Danes Academy, Sally Coates, who appeared with Michael Gove at last year’s Tory conference, said the debacle ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Adrian Elliott on another thread wrote: "The schools I have spoken to or heard about all seem very clear that their results were not simply down on the January exams (which most had not entered pupils for anyway) but were ......"

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Janet Downs: 93% of Britain’s children are victims of discrimination. Why? Because they are state educated

“Unleashing aspiration: the Final Report of the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions” (2009): “…although only 7% of the population attend independent schools, well over half the members of many professions have done so. For example, 75% of judges, 70% of finance directors, 45% of top civil servants, and 32% of MPs were independently schooled.” The Panel found that the ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by andy: ""The survey concluded: “…that private education does, indeed, perpetuate a form of separate development in Britain, or ‘social apartheid’.” Separate development is in no way shape or form the same as "apartheid". In the legal sense the latter is enshrined ......"

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Allan Beavis: What Katherine Birbalsingh has in common with George Bush

Katherine Birbalsingh has posted a bizarre Telegraph blog in response to Fiona Millar’s piece on Academy chains in Monday’s Guardian Firstly, the comparison between a US President giving reasons to launch a war of terror and a journalist writing about the very real possibility of for-profit making companies running schools is so far-fetched and fabricated that it would be merely ridiculous ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Allan Beavis: "The debate on profit-making companies running schools and the impact this will have on influencing and exerting education policy is a very important one. The issue has been hinted at by Michael Gove, raised on a number of posts here ......"

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Francis Gilbert: How the other half is educated: a video tour of Wellington College

Wellington College's grounds are overwhelming; absolutely massive. Going there makes you realise that life there is far removed from the realities of much of Britain -- but this is true of many private schools. I guess this is there USP: they are very definitely making a virtue of the fact that they are segregated from the rest of the community.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGA-VUKPJRM read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Melissa Benn: "LSN readers might be interested to know that I have based part of my discussion of modern private schools - in my forthcoming book on the the state of education in this country - on Wellington School, where I ......"

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