EDUCATION
THE NEXT STEP Is your child nearing the end of their primary education? If they are, then secondary school awaits and Sara Whatley has been considering the options available for their next step
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here are many considerations to take into account when the time comes for parents and children to choose their secondary education. These might include location, funding, sibling attendance, religion, and the aptitude of the child themselves. Does your child favour the academic subjects and thrive from book learning or are they more inclined to splash around the paints and glue gun? Does your child possess a natural gift for music, languages or sports? Perhaps they are never happier than when tinkering with nuts and bolts, making great creations? Maybe they are a solid all-rounder, happy to try their hand at
anything; or perhaps they need more help in certain places and would benefit from a special environment. Whatever your child’s natural proclivity, there will be a secondary school out there to suit them and take them on the next step of their educational journey. There are many different secondary school options available, and below I have listed some of them. STATE SCHOOLS The government funds most state secondary schools and many of them follow the national curriculum (KS3 and KS4). State secondary schools are routinely inspected by Ofsted or other bodies to ensure a high standard of schooling. The four most common state schools are: 1 Community schools – sometimes called local authority maintained schools. These follow the national
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curriculum and are not affiliated with a particular religion or business, and are funded by the government and local authority. 2 Foundation and voluntary schools – still funded by the local authority but these schools have more choice in the way they do things, although they still have to follow the national curriculum. 3 Academies and free schools – funded by, but run independently from the local authority, by a not-for-profit academy trust such as a charitable body. These schools can follow a different curriculum. 4 Grammar schools – free to attend but choose their pupils based on their academic ability. An 11+ entrance exam needs to be taken, but places can also be offered on special merit to pupils with a particular aptitude for languages, sports, music or other subjects. These schools follow a similar curriculum to the national curriculum but give more weight to the academic subjects. There are of course other types of state school available which include: 5 Special schools – for special educational needs. Specialising in different categories dependent on your child’s individual needs. These schools are funded by the government and free for pupils to attend.
