Quote from: AndyHB on December 29, 2011, 18:01:08

]So you think we ought to have state-sponsored 'exclusive' schools?  How would you decide which child was most suited to such a school, by the way?

Actually I think the argument for state sponsored schools for the exceptionally gifted has its pros and cons, but essentially, if it is to work,  then children should be selected on the basis of their natural ability rather than their ability to pay. 

It's a pity then that the very schools that most regularly provided such a service, grammar schools, have been abolished by most Local Authorities!!

The idea of selecting children on the basis of an examination at the age of 11 and then segregating the 'intelligent' from the 'less intelligent' is a very poor one.  Children develop at various stages. Far better to have streaming within the same school where children can move between streams at the end of each year.

So, which is it to be, Martin?  State-sponsored schools of excellence, which will necessitate a form of selection and an age for that selection, or comprehensive schools that have streaming (selection with a different name) and which have been shown to be largely ineffective at pulling the 'least gifted' up to anywhere near the level of the average, let alone the most gifted (most of whom are actually pulled down to the average).