What is the difference between a grammar school and an independent/boarding school

I go to a Grammar school; it's advertised as very selective with excellent teaching (not to mention that it's free).

In reality, the teaching is mixed - some teachers are outstanding, the majority are average, and there's a number who are mediocre or pretty poor. The school's 'excellent results' are not the product of the teaching, but the quality of students that go here - since we have over 2000 applications for 210 places, they can afford to choose the best people.

Don't be fooled by the title 'grammar school'! Although many get good results, it's not always down to the teaching. Since no one pays school fees, we rely on the local council and donations from money, and so don't have the best resources.

KS3 and form groups up to year 11 - 30 students
GCSE classes - mixed sizes depending on subject popularity, for example my maths top set has 32, whereas my Spanish class has 13
A Level forms are much smaller, and again the class sizes depend on popularity.

In terms of resources, teaching, exam preparation etc.

How did you decide to go to whichever one, from name or proximity or something else.

Major difference is COST - boarding at private £35000. Grammar - Zip.

My 4 nieces and nephews all went to private school - not one of them has come out with a decent set of exam results. My three kids all went to grammar schools - all got degrees and my youngest is just about to start a PhD in maths.

However - if I had the money I would have sent my kids to private because you can get a hand up in life - if you go to the right one. Many private schools are not worth the money. You come out with a lovely accent and are able to play polo, lacrosse and know which way to pass the port - but academically you struggle

I go to a private (Independent) school and in all honesty, I see no difference between the standard of teaching in private schools in comparision to grammar schools. In fact, I think grammar school students get treated better than independent school students by their teachers, It is almost as if they get (the teachers) annoyed that our parents pay for the school, and associate us with many stereotypical ideas of what private school goers are like and assume that we are all stuck up and quite frankly - myself and some of my friends are fed up with this type of treatment so instead we're going to grammar schools because that way we don't feel sorry for our parents for having to pay for such a poor quality of teaching and treatment from our teachers.

And before anyone asks, yes I have been to a state school before so I do know what I am talking about. Also, the good grades at my type of school are not because of the teachers - it is just because everyone has a tutor for one subject or another, and when the results come in...the school takes all of the glory! I am aware that this is true for many other types of school's however, my point is that the teachers do not give us any type of special top secret exam advice that free-school goers do not receive at their various schools, and to be honest all of the relevant resources for any course can be found on the internet.

Additionally, whenever we get hand-outs in class - if you look at the bottom of the page where the source of the e.g. revision pack is from, it is almost always from a local state school or a free website which I could easily access myself, honestly there is no need to waste thousands of pounds a year only to receive ill treatment and resources that the whole country has access too XD hope this was useful, btw this is only my personal experience - I completely understand that many others may disagree with my take on this matter which is totally acceptable because everyonne is entitled to their own oppinion. xx

Hi I went to a grammar school from years 7-9 and an independent school from years 10-11 and I found them to be incredibly different. I moved because of friendship and bullying reasons.

The grammar school I found had amazing teachers, a few weren't great especially in the lower years when you didn't have the specific subject teacher e.g I had an English teacher for drama.
However, the grammar school I went to was a girls only school and this made it difficult as we all were the top dogs in primary school who were used to being the best. This meant we all clashed massively when we went to secondary. The school also had a massive pressure and exam stress atmosphere, although you were well prepared you were very anxious as you HAD to succeed. Resources wise the grammar school had very good resources, we had a food tech block, a good science lab and even a full athletics track

My private school did not have good teaching at all or good exam preparation (I am currently in the middle of my GCSEs now) but if you are self motivated you can cope.
They did not have good resources for the senior school as the school has both a senior and primary department and the primary gets more money and so has much better resources. Overall academically the private school was much worse than the grammar

Although saying all that I have been awarded a schlorship to a much better private school which has amazing facilities and teaching as far as I can tell, so although grammars have amazing teaching you should be able to get equally good experience at some private schools. They are different but both have their merits- I would not be where I am academically if it were not for my grammar school experience.


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i go grammar school dont associate us wid dem posh yutes pls, man feels offended

man pass leven plus innit ? riiiiiiiiiiiiiispeck

It says that user you quoted is banned. So you talking to him right now makes me feel higher than you probably are.

i feel let down

Aw come on little fella, cheer upp, sunny days are ahead