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Barry is right about the effect of the local Grammar schools on the rest of the schools in the area. The simple fact is that not enough children in the Dover area pass the Kent Test to fill the intake every year. This is why an additional test is held to fill their intake quota every year. Now call me cynical but I find it quite telling that this test should be held on a Saturday, making it as much a test of the parental commitment as of ability. This process was ruled as 'unfair' by KCC in Folkestone a number of years ago, but was allowed to continue in Dover, probably as it would expose the absurdity of this antiquated system.
I question the system and I have no personal gripe with the two good Grammar schools in Dover. However the system does create a number of significant problems. Firstly by not taking pupils of a certain standard it fundamentally defeats its supposed purpose. Secondly filling a set 'quota' and not the top percentage of the demographic, the upper ability at other schools declines, which is the current situation due to a lull in population. If a Local secondary modern school is getting 25% of their students (the lower proportion of the tested) though GCSEs at targets set by central government they are regarded as failing and potentially face restructuring. However a Grammar can get 90% (of the upper proportion) and is commended. As Barry says, some of these students would benefit from a different approach. So let's do it...oh but we can't because we wouldn't have enough students to justify our Grammar schools. Oh yes this really is a great system, silly me for being vaguely left wing.
Bern you mention holistic education, but last time I checked half the population seemed to be female and a different half were below average intelligence. How is a child's development going to be holistic if their formative years are blinkered from reality? Girls and boys are different; in fact girls develop academically faster than boys, which could make you question why we test them both at 11, with the same test? And what if a boy does put it all together at a slightly later date, move schools? It doesn't happen, of course he could at a Comprehensive (statistically equal to counties with grammar schools.) Smart kids do well at exams, and that is it. Still the most accurate descriptor of a child's academic achievement (not intelligence) in this country is what their parents do/have done and how much they earn. There is no coincidence that both yours and Barry's children went/go to the grammar school. And consequently no surprise that university places are still filled by vast amounts of public school types, that aren't necessarily smart. So why don't we encourage the likes of Prince Harry to do a plumbing apprenticeship (let's face it, he's no academic) Or is it the construct we have is too rigid and antiquated?
The education system seriously needs some reform but that isn't saying we should look to 'what things used to be'. Knowing teachers Phil I would say 99% would love to focus on the education of the future generation (and do) but league tables are used as a way of keeping people where they belong and shows little more than demographics rather than academic reality. My memory fails me on who introduced them? Do you know Barry?