Schools

[joeluke]

In more sensible times long since past, children (and their siblings) went to the school nearest to where they lived and not to schools chosen by their parents based on position in 'league tables' even though they were miles away from home.

No danger of siblings not all getting places at same school then was there?

A lot of the traffic congestion around schools in the mornings and afternoons is because parents have to travel from far and wide to pick up their kids (as well as the lazy ones who live within walking distance but still choose to drive their gas-guzzling 4x4's a few hundred yards to school and back)

Couldn't see anything wrong with the old system myself?

If it ain't broken don't try to fix it

[Sqad]

I was not meaning " Primary Schools" but Grammar Schools.........I should have made that clear.

[ummmm]

Morning prayers, sqad?

[mccfluff]

Abbey Catholic Primary School celebrates 100 years as a Junior and Infant School in 2010

does 113 years old count for "olden days"

[Sqad]

OK...you have all made good and pertinent points.

[Tilly2]

In Stoke, in the olden days of my childhood, there was a boys' Catholic Grammar school and a girls' Catholic grammar school.

[albaqwerty]

local RC school has been demolished, local non religious high school has shrunk, houses now built on what were the buildings for 1st and 2nd year.
New RC school built miles away.

Younger son was told that he might not get to go to the same school as his older brother. Huge educational changes within 12 months.

Agree with you joeluke, system wasn't broken, it's been tinkered with for years.

[Wharton]

Good for you Sqad, how about throwing in a few of your own.

[craft1948]

My primary school (a church school) was a fair way away as it was chosen so that I could go to my nan's for my dinner (she lived in the next street).
My grammar school was about 2 miles away, there was a catholic girls grammar in the centre of York but the boys had to go to St Michael's in Leeds.

[2sp_]

My kids won't be going to the nearest Primary school. It's not a great school and the one they go to is only an extra mile further from our house. We are right on the boundary line and our next door neighbours go to the same school as we have put her to.

Why shouldn't I try to give them the best start by taking them to a different school?

[New Judge]

Indeed there was nothing too much wrong with the old system. But certainly as far as secondary schools go there is a critical difference between today and those “more sensible times long since past” and that is this: in those days secondary schools of all types (not just grammar schools) could be relied upon to deliver a decent education largely tailored to the ability of their pupils. Having said that, even if those days pupils still travelled some distance to attend the school of choice. I was educated at a grammar school in central London but even given the choice of decent schools in London at that time some of my fellow pupils travelled some distance.

Today it is somewhat different. The result of the various attempts to homogenise State education is that parents who want to see their children have a decent education have to take steps which thirty or forty years ago would not have been necessary. They have to study league tables and have to move to areas where the best performing schools are.

Some schools are (and will always be) better than others. Parents cannot be blamed for wanting to see their children educated to the best standard possible. And that’s why some of them make considerable sacrifices to get their children into a good school - something they did not have to worry so much about fifty years ago.

[rockyracoon]

That summed it up perfectly New Judge.

[Wharton]

^In England perhaps.

[FredPuli43]

I doubt whether there was a multi-religious school Sqad. In yours the Catholics used to be separated less they heard Protestant dogma at prayers. In mine , the Jews and some Catholics did not attend the religious part of morning assembly.

The Education Act , 1944, made it compulsory for schools to have a morning assembly which was broadly Christian in character (and we knew which branch of Christianity was contemplated) and the same applied to religious education, also compulsory. These provisions have only been changed in recent years, to accommodate the fact that many families have no religion and many more are not Christian, the school being multi-faith in its intake or predominantly non-Christian.

[StevenNelson]

Really depends on the situation. If your family is on a budget, going to a nearest school is the best option especially the walking distance institutions. You don't have to spend for gas or rent a school vehicle to get there. I grew up with a limited option so I have no choice but do the old system. It is just now that schools are sprouting everywhere so you have many choices.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/01/24/parents.school.choice/
http://www.campkimama.org/en