Rules Regarding The Old 11 Plus

[roz.ronly]

I have a Canadian relative who states that a wealthy retired British MP told on Canadian TV how he was given a complimentary 11 Plus pass to go to Grammar School. He went on to say that if you were wealthy enough or had the right connections, it was easy to get a PASS. Could this have possibly happened ? Has anyone else heard of such a thing ? He made it sound as if this was normal practice.

[Maydup]

I'm not surprised to be honest; There would have been a few places at each school to be filled at he discretion of the Head. Don' supposed that's changed has it?

[woofgang]

no idea why you would want to if you were loaded, you'd just go to public school

[bednobs]

i don't have any personal experience but it really wouldn't surprise me

[DaisyNonna]

So how come there were no really rich kids at my school?

[Psybbo]

That would surprise me, but looking back, a South African girl (rich family) came to my grammar school, so maybe it was the case

[FredPuli43]

No, but since the head had a discretion, it would be rather more a matter of who you knew, the head, rather than being rich. And, of course, direct grant schools took 11 plus pupils but also admitted privately paid pupils if the school thought them able enough, in which case a fail in the 11 plus did not matter. My prep school was like that; the upper school was direct grant and we pupils in the prep school were told not to worry too much about the 11 plus because we would all go to upper school. We did all pass, but it wouldn't really have mattered if we hadn't, as it would be regarded as a freak result.

[Canary42]

///So how come there were no really rich kids at my school? ///

All the money had been spent on the bribe.

[atalanta]

Such a practice could easily have resulted in a not-very-bright child being taught in a class full of very intelligent children. The child concerned could have been out of his depth and quite uncomfortable. However, if a child of immigrant parents arrived in this country too late to take the 11 plus, the school might have relied on reports from the boy's previous school, and decided that their education would be appropriate for him. But I can't see him being allowed to take Grammar place from a British child who had earned it. Fortunately, in those days for boys at the 11 plus stage, there were far more Grammar school places for boys than for girls, resulting in some dim boys getting Grammar school places when their more intelligent sisters didn't.

[New Judge]

Fred is quite correct about direct-grant grammar schools. They did have discretion to take 11 plus failures (indeed they had the discretion to admit whoever they liked).

I went to a DG Grammar (and very good it was too). However it had a policy of only admitting pupils who had not passed the 11 plus if they had not had the opportunity to do so (which essentially meant pupils who had arrived in the UK after age 11) and only if they got through the school's quite rigorous assessment (which all entrants had to go through even having passed the 11 plus).

During my seven years at the school I can recall very few pupils joining us other than by the usual process at age eleven. I certainly did not know of any "rich kids" buying their way in.

[Twenty20]

The 'wealthy retired British MP' probably had to pass an entrance exam to get into the Grammar School if he didn't have an 11 Plus. I know I did.

But perhaps it doesn't make such a good story on TV to say that, does it?

Personally, I tend not to believe everything I hear on TV (and even less of what people tell me they hear on TV).

[BenjaminArvel]

Just try public school it is best choice for you they are now offering some certifications with the co operation of certshelp.