- guardian.co.uk,
- Tuesday January 15 2002
My daughter, Rebecca attends Brentwood Pre-Preparatory School, where she enjoys a brilliant education from a team of very dedicated and talented staff. Our decision to send Rebecca to Brentwood - some 10 miles from where we live - was not prompted by the lack of good primary schools but from the lack of good secondary schools in Basildon.
Our local primary school - Great Berry is an excellent school which has had to be extended due to the demand for places. We would have been delighted if we would have felt able to send her there. However, once Rebecca turned 11, we would have had no option available to us but to send Rebecca to either a school in Southend or Brentwood. Our decision to opt out, was to give Rebecca some chance of getting into a high quality school at 11.
May I suggest Dea Birkett reads the inspectors' reports for the secondary schools in my area - I have, and they make distressing reading. My child has not got the time to wait whilst Basildon sorts itself out - the schools were bad 10 years ago and in all cases bar a couple they have not improved much.
As a county, Essex has some of the best schools in the country - I believe one or two are in the top 10 in the league tables, but the competition is huge and the risk of not getting a place we felt was far too high - let alone the pressure it would put on Rebecca.
Our decisions were entirely rational and based on facts - we would have much preferred for Rebecca to go to school locally - the travelling alone is very tiring for her but there is no "excellent comprehensive" in Basildon, just mediocrity and far worse.
Regarding charitable status - if it is removed we'll keep paying the fees even if we have to move to pay them - we do not have a choice. As for banning them - dream on, no government in its right mind would try that one because it knows the system couldn't cope and parents would find a way around the problem. Not even the Labour government of the 1970's tried that one.
Dea Birkett seems to think the middle classes are merely being snobbish and elitist in their approach to education - the references to Harry Potter do her argument much harm. Most of the parents we talk to have made the decision for pretty much the same reasons we have and most have taken the time and effort to understand what is happening in their area before taking such a step.
I hope Estelle Morris' ideas work but schools have been a political game in the UK for most of the 20th century and the game seems to be continuing in the 21st. The successive governments' and education establishment's record of success has been patchy at best.
In the meantime, my daughter will continue to enjoy the best education we can find and afford - her future isn't worth gambling with or playing political or intellectual games with.
Claire Jones
