The DUP thread

[marty34]

Kids get to grammar schools as they're bright and gifted.

I always thought being a grammar school teacher would be easy as the kids are bright and for the most part, well mannered etc.

They kids are going to get A and B's etc. regardless of who their teachers are.

I think a pupil getting an A say, is a great result for the teacher in a 'normal' school. Exceptions to this always but that's my take on it.

There are plenty of dunces/ bastards in grammar schools.

Leave the teachers out of it. 

[Milltown Row2]

Kids get to grammar schools as they're bright and gifted.

I always thought being a grammar school teacher would be easy as the kids are bright and for the most part, well mannered etc.

They kids are going to get A and B's etc. regardless of who their teachers are.

I think a pupil getting an A say, is a great result for the teacher in a 'normal' school. Exceptions to this always but that's my take on it.

There are plenty of dunces/ bastards in grammar schools.

Leave the teachers out of it. 

Teachers within secondary and grammar schools have different levels of expectations and demands..

Lots of schools in secondary are streamed and have been even in my day, even more so now, so there will be ones doing well in the better classes and others in the lower grade won't be and rather than present a poor achieving school these lads (rightly in many cases) are put into areas that look after NVQ's and other like that, which are more achievable and set them up for working within the trade/retail/beauty and so on sectors.

This helps to 'cook the books' when looking at schools tables

Grammar schools parents expect wee johnny to have A*'s and enter them into subjects that they haven't ability for, plus the schools expect also so pressure is on to might unrealistic targets with pupils that were tutored flat out to pass a entry test to get there and haven't the ability to work for themselves

Some teachers are happy to work in secondary and others happy to work in the grammar

[johnnycool]

Kids get to grammar schools as they're bright and gifted.

I always thought being a grammar school teacher would be easy as the kids are bright and for the most part, well mannered etc.

They kids are going to get A and B's etc. regardless of who their teachers are.

I think a pupil getting an A say, is a great result for the teacher in a 'normal' school. Exceptions to this always but that's my take on it.

There are plenty of dunces/ bastards in grammar schools.

Leave the teachers out of it. 

Teachers within secondary and grammar schools have different levels of expectations and demands..

Lots of schools in secondary are streamed and have been even in my day, even more so now, so there will be ones doing well in the better classes and others in the lower grade won't be and rather than present a poor achieving school these lads (rightly in many cases) are put into areas that look after NVQ's and other like that, which are more achievable and set them up for working within the trade/retail/beauty and so on sectors.

This helps to 'cook the books' when looking at schools tables

Grammar schools parents expect wee johnny to have A*'s and enter them into subjects that they haven't ability for, plus the schools expect also so pressure is on to might unrealistic targets with pupils that were tutored flat out to pass a entry test to get there and haven't the ability to work for themselves

Some teachers are happy to work in secondary and others happy to work in the grammar

A lot of kids are tutored to the balls to get past a SEAG test, that's not a measure of intelligence, that's a measure of memory and resources.

Getting into a Grammar school isn't the panacea a lot of parents think it is. It's an opportunity and that's all.

I know loads of Grammar educated lads who're builders, painters, civil servants etc etc along with plenty of secondary school educated people with degrees.

[LC]

Kids get to grammar schools as they're bright and gifted.

I always thought being a grammar school teacher would be easy as the kids are bright and for the most part, well mannered etc.

They kids are going to get A and B's etc. regardless of who their teachers are.

I think a pupil getting an A say, is a great result for the teacher in a 'normal' school. Exceptions to this always but that's my take on it.

There are plenty of dunces/ bastards in grammar schools.

Leave the teachers out of it. 

Teachers within secondary and grammar schools have different levels of expectations and demands..

Lots of schools in secondary are streamed and have been even in my day, even more so now, so there will be ones doing well in the better classes and others in the lower grade won't be and rather than present a poor achieving school these lads (rightly in many cases) are put into areas that look after NVQ's and other like that, which are more achievable and set them up for working within the trade/retail/beauty and so on sectors.

This helps to 'cook the books' when looking at schools tables

Grammar schools parents expect wee johnny to have A*'s and enter them into subjects that they haven't ability for, plus the schools expect also so pressure is on to might unrealistic targets with pupils that were tutored flat out to pass a entry test to get there and haven't the ability to work for themselves

Some teachers are happy to work in secondary and others happy to work in the grammar

A lot of kids are tutored to the balls to get past a SEAG test, that's not a measure of intelligence, that's a measure of memory and resources.

Getting into a Grammar school isn't the panacea a lot of parents think it is. It's an opportunity and that's all.

I know loads of Grammar educated lads who're builders, painters, civil servants etc etc along with plenty of secondary school educated people with degrees.

Would not be a big fan of the tutoring, if you need it to get your entrance exam then parent / child will feel the need to do likewise for GCSE and A-Levels.  There will come a point when there is no safety net and what do they do then.  For example if your child was tutored the whole way through school and they just about then scrape into something like Medicine there will come a point they will run out of road somewhere and will be out of their depth.

[Deerstalker]

I would have agreed with you at a time but I had a daughter who struggled a bit for a while on a couple of areas in a subject.

Due to the big class size it was hard to get the one on one help she needed.

We arranged some short term tutoring and it worked really well.

[clonian]

I would have agreed with you at a time but I had a daughter who struggled a bit for a while on a couple of areas in a subject.

Due to the big class size it was hard to get the one on one help she needed.

We arranged some short term tutoring and it worked really well.

A small nudge in the right direction can really help. Even if it just helps their confidence overall.

The transfer test is probably the worst for it though, my daughter was the only one doing the test at the time that didn't go to a tutor so we felt like we were in the wrong. She did a couple of sessions and to be fair to the woman taking it she said she didn't need to keep going.

[johnnycool]

I would have agreed with you at a time but I had a daughter who struggled a bit for a while on a couple of areas in a subject.

Due to the big class size it was hard to get the one on one help she needed.

We arranged some short term tutoring and it worked really well.

Big class sizes are prevalent in most Grammar schools too.

I've a wee girl in OLSPK and she's in a class of 32 whereas her older brother was in a class of 26 when he started there 8 years previous.

bums on seats equals more funding.

[Deerstalker]

I would have agreed with you at a time but I had a daughter who struggled a bit for a while on a couple of areas in a subject.

Due to the big class size it was hard to get the one on one help she needed.

We arranged some short term tutoring and it worked really well.

Big class sizes are prevalent in most Grammar schools too.

I've a wee girl in OLSPK and she's in a class of 32 whereas her older brother was in a class of 26 when he started there 8 years previous.

bums on seats equals more funding.

Yes to clarify it was/is a grammar I am talking about, my point was more about tutoring 

[brokencrossbar1]

I would have agreed with you at a time but I had a daughter who struggled a bit for a while on a couple of areas in a subject.

Due to the big class size it was hard to get the one on one help she needed.

We arranged some short term tutoring and it worked really well.

A small nudge in the right direction can really help. Even if it just helps their confidence overall.

The transfer test is probably the worst for it though, my daughter was the only one doing the test at the time that didn't go to a tutor so we felt like we were in the wrong. She did a couple of sessions and to be fair to the woman taking it she said she didn't need to keep going.

Yeah,  son was doing transfer test and needed a bit of help with Maths. Got 5-6 sessions and was 100% and passed with flying colours. At the same time there were parents having their kids going to tutoring for months in P6 and then over the summer pre-P7. Was crazy! 

[Mario]

Campbell College was 2k a year 15yrs ago, not sure what it is now

It's £4k pa. The poshest school in NI is about a third the cost of a full time nursery place in Belfast, which is surprising. I was expecting at least £10k. I work with people in London and private school fees there can be 50k a year. It's mental. A lot of people in good jobs in London seem to think they have to send their kids to private schools too. 

[screenexile]

Went to a Grammar school as well and for our A Level maths we had a teacher (VP - who I really liked actually but he shouldn't have been a teacher anymore) who did zero preparation. He came in, lifted a textbook and did maybe 3 problems and half explained them and then set us a couple of problems for homework.

I wasn't happy about it and asked my parents about a tutor. Little did I know at the time that out of our class of 15, 8 of us were going to the same tutor!!!

The tutor really pulled us out of a tight spot.

[imtommygunn]

Yeah that happened me at a grammar school. Nearly the whole class went to the same physics tutor at the same time (who also taught at the school - just not our class). Must have made a fortune!

[Rossfan]

I presume the "Should of" and "had went" posters didn't go to grammar schools?

[BigGreenField]

While the DUP are rightly taking a kicking over the Bangor integration status , the lack of noise from other political parties
on the issue reconfirms that it suits Dup and SF and SDLP and UUP to have a divided school system despite the cost, societal damage and education short comings that arises from it.

It also suits a lot of folk who don't went their Timmy/Tomàs educated with the less well off - look at the drama over the past 10 years in Downpatrick as a case in point.

[trueblue1234]

I presume the "Should of" and "had went" posters didn't go to grammar schools?

What a p***k.

Anyway back to the tutors. We got our eldest tutored as the p6 teacher was useless. We'd been warned before how bad she was and after a month we realised she was worser 🙂 (That's another issue. Teachers that are known to be shite and nothing done with them 😡).

She preached about how she wasn't there to prepare them for the test and that she wasn't covering it. Yet every other school in the local area were working towards it or doing an after school class. Sometimes needs must. Not all teachers are equal.