My thoughts on the education system. What do you think?

As any teacher in the town will tell you Devon is one of the

lowest funded areas when it comes to our schools.

As you can see from our own Tiverton school results tables

we’re still doing quite well regardless, but is it fair that we are being left

behind?

Funding in Devon is at a mere £3,842 per pupil compared to

the most well funded in London with £7,603.

Another point to note is that every pupil in Devon is worth

£375 less than the national average and that cannot be fair, can it?

You would have thought that a school pupil costs the same

wherever they go to school. Why are Devon’s pupils somehow cheaper to put

through their education than a child in the city of London?

If anyone has the answers, please come forward!

On a more positive note, it’s nice to see how the schools

are working together rather than back in my day when they used to compete

against each other for top marks and the best results.

Getting the best results – according to my opinion – is a

bonus for a school, but it doesn’t take into account the type of pupil who goes

there.

If a school was only interested in getting the best from

their best pupils, what would happen to all those who wern’t capable of doing

so well?

As for plans to bring back grammar schools........

At the age of eleven, a child sent to a secondary school is

chucked on the scrapheap and left to be a dunce, yet could have the potential

to do as well as somebody who goes grammar school, but can’t because all the

best teachers and equipment, they just will not have the support and

recognition they deserve.