Re: Kate's School

[Geoff Clare <gwc@root.co.uk>]

sre017@cck.cov.ac.UK (Andy Semple) originally wrote:

>Sorry to be picky but Kate didn't attend a grammar school,she attended
>a private convent school. Hence her parents paid for her education,

Now he contradicts himself and writes:

>When Kate joined StJoseph's it was a Grammar school.

So Kate DID attend a grammar school, as I thought.  The only doubt is
how long it remained a grammar school while she was there.

>Unfortunately in the following year 1970,the 11+ exam and
>grammar schools were scrapped.Grammar schools either became Comprehensivee
>or Public.In Coventry where I live we had around 4  grammar schools,3 became
>Comprehensive and 1 became Public.

That may be what happened in Coventry, but in the South-East it was a very
different story.  I went to school in Essex, where there was a long hard
fight to keep the grammar schools.  I took the 11+ in Essex in 1972, two
years after Andy says it was scrapped in Coventry.  I went to a grammar
school in Essex in 1972 and it remained a grammar school until I left in
1979.  As far as I know it is still a grammar school today.  The same
applies to most if not all the grammar schools in Essex.  I'm willing to
bet that much the same happened in Kent (where St. Joseph's is) as in
Essex.  It's far more likely that Kate's school remained a grammar school
for the entire time she was there than that it became a public school in
1970 as Andy suggests.

>I am well aware that before 1970 the only way into a grammar school
>was through passing the 11+ exam.The worse thing they ever did was to scrap
>the grammar school.It is no wonder the country is in the state it is in,where
>if you have a high IQ and no money it is just tough.Grammar schools allowed
>children without parents who were rich,to get a decent education.Unfortunately
>you have the choice of going to a vastly under-funded state school or if you
>are rich enough a Public school with decent resources.

I'm sure that Andy will be relieved to hear that grammar schools are
alive and well in the South-East of the country, and probably in other
areas as well.
-- 
Geoff Clare <gwc@root.co.uk>  (Dumb American mailers: ...!uunet!root.co.uk!gwc)
UniSoft Limited, London, England.   Tel: +44 71 729 3773   Fax: +44 71 729 3273