Nemo Posted August 25, 2015 Posted August 25, 2015 Hi New Memeber to this group..so first post.. Just a quick question, I got offered a job at a grammar school as an "IT go to guy". The salary was currently a bit more then what im on, and would have been a brill step up to hit management role, but declined it in the end purely for distance, now i feel so gutted demoralised, that i should have taken on the offer, school was friendly, pay was good, and school has 100% pass rate, just want to know if any of you guys working in a gramamar school and how your finding it, so if i get something like that came my way again i'd snap at the opportunity.. cheers guys...
elsiegee40 Posted August 25, 2015 Posted August 25, 2015 Grammar schools have more intelligent students than average, but really it shouldn't be greatly different to working in any other school. Grammars, at least in my neck of the woods, are state schools. Many of them have better reserves, due to their history and alumni, than their secondary modern (local non grammar) counterparts and are able to invest in technology better. It's a shame that you declined a job you were offered. They thought you were good enough - believe in yourself! 1
AJWhite1970 Posted August 25, 2015 Posted August 25, 2015 Grammar school here after working in FE/HE for 16 years. Have been here 6 years and have no plans to leave. Great students (many more intelligent than me and I have 2 degrees!!!), really nice staff and a supportive Leadership Team. I know you don't want to hear this but it was the best move I ever made. Andrew 2
Dkeen94 Posted August 26, 2015 Posted August 26, 2015 Grammar school here too, worked here for just over a year now and the environment is fantastic! Students and staff alike are a pleasure to work with, lots of opportunities to implement new kit. As elsiegee40 said, believe in yourself! 1
E_G_R2 Posted August 26, 2015 Posted August 26, 2015 Started out in a Grammar, moved to state (OMG culture shock), now back in a specialist private school. TBH i've loved them all and call me a fool but miss some of the more interesting pupil behaviour! Beleive!!!! 1
andyturpie Posted August 26, 2015 Posted August 26, 2015 Yes I work for one, one of the leading girls grammar school in the country. Great place to work. I was actually bricking it when I secured an interview as I was expecting it to be all mortar boards and capes. You could never meet a nicer bunch of staff and the girls, well it makes it a lot easier when they have no interest in opening machines to nick the RAM or proxy avoidance techniques.... 2
TechieWils Posted August 26, 2015 Posted August 26, 2015 Same as above, did my year student placement in one Grammar school, finished uni did 4 in a inner city school as Senior Tech and now done 16 months as a Network Manager of a Girls Grammar School. The students are polite and friendly, very little in behaviour/vandalism issues. Very intelligent and driven. I will say staff are worked hard with massive amounts of pressure to succeed and push the students as far as they can. As for salary its comparable to other local schools, but I do have a slightly larger budget than my previous NM meaning I can do some fancier things more quickly. As for the work load apart from the vandalism at the inner city school I face the same problems. Password resets, dead pc's, SAN's not playing fair, Projectors dying etc. 1
MAP Posted August 26, 2015 Posted August 26, 2015 I work for a Grammar School (The state kind) in a borough that has lots of Grammar schools. I have been here 10 years. I would disagree about the money - many grammar schools have lower funding because they have fewer pupil premium students and indeed, they don't get grants to help them up their standards in specific subjects. So financing can be a bit more difficult than for the Comps in poorer areas - However the pupils don't damage anything - you can come back to your tools a day later and they are still there. The boys are pleasant and polite, and generally interested when you explain what you are doing. The technology is possibly simpler because the teaching tends to be more conventional - i.e. less ipads more very fast PCs with autocad and Photoshop on. BUT - the requirement for reliability is much higher. For the school - exam results are very important and a single lesson lost is a problem. In order to achieve this level of reliability, you either have to go for very reliable PCs or have a spare in each suite. Personally I think there is more pressure on the staff in a Grammar school and hence sometimes you can end up on the wrong end of someone else's temper but it all tends to calm down quickly. I don't know about other areas - but most of the IT managers in this borough meet and we all help each other, and I am sure if you just rang any of them up they would be more than happy to talk to you. Good luck. PS what part of the country are you in. 1
Nemo Posted August 26, 2015 Author Posted August 26, 2015 Many THANKS to all the guys who replied! I suppose I'll have to to learn and live with the disappointing choice I made.. but it wont happen again.. maybe I should have proposed this question earlier rather than after the moment had expired. I got a good vibe regarding Grammar schools, I suppose its the way forward. Im based in Manchester "MAP". HUGE THANK YOU AGAIN to all you legends out there.. 2
Achandler Posted August 27, 2015 Posted August 27, 2015 If your in Manchester, then most Grammar schools in Trafford (I say msot there is a could of private) are all state Grammar schools. Virtually every other school across Manchester that is a grammar school is privately funded. So it would depend where in Manchester you are, depending on what type of the two schools you get, and then obviously each school has its own quirks etc. 1
MAP Posted August 27, 2015 Posted August 27, 2015 Nemo - if you ever head down to London you might want to visit a few of us and look around. 1
Nemo Posted August 27, 2015 Author Posted August 27, 2015 Thank you "Achandler" & "MAP" for your response, im keeping my eyes out for similar role, suppose will have to see what the future holds, I might take you up on that offer "MAP". thanks again & i hope you guys @ edugeek have a fantastic long weeekend
detjo Posted August 28, 2015 Posted August 28, 2015 (... and I have 2 degrees!!!) That's the sort of thing a teacher would say
E_G_R2 Posted August 28, 2015 Posted August 28, 2015 That's the sort of thing a teacher would say In a Grammar School!!!
AJWhite1970 Posted August 28, 2015 Posted August 28, 2015 Nah, two degrees doesn't cut it here, most of the teaching staff are PhD, MA or MSc. We've got more Dr's than a private hospital....
jcookhgs Posted November 5, 2015 Posted November 5, 2015 I work for a Grammar School (The state kind) in a borough that has lots of Grammar schools. I have been here 10 years. I would disagree about the money - many grammar schools have lower funding because they have fewer pupil premium students and indeed, they don't get grants to help them up their standards in specific subjects. So financing can be a bit more difficult than for the Comps in poorer areas - However the pupils don't damage anything - you can come back to your tools a day later and they are still there. The boys are pleasant and polite, and generally interested when you explain what you are doing. Pretty much sums up our financial state as a converted to academy selective grammar school in the north of England. 1
Oaktech Posted November 5, 2015 Posted November 5, 2015 I suspect my next move will be to a grammar... My reasons are 4 fold. 1. both of our local grammar schools are in walking distance of my house 2. they are both very well funded in comparison to all the other schools in the area 3. I'm pretty fed up with the attitude of a lot of state pupils 4. I'm friendly with The NM's of both schools are contacts from when I used to do AV installs and both have said they would offer me a job if I was in the market when one came up.
sonofsanta Posted November 5, 2015 Posted November 5, 2015 I'm at an all girls grammar, and proper lovely it is too For me, the difference isn't in the grammar part (Lincs grammar schools are state), it's in the all girls part--the worst damage I've had in six years was someone drawing on the screen with a biro, so I got some ethanol and cleaned it off. Never a stick of RAM nicked, never a monitor punched, keyboards & mice aren't unplugged from the back and into the front (never did understand that)... compare and contrast to my previous job, where the first thing I ever did was remove a hard glass monitor that had been shattered by a student punching it. I also don't have to worry anywhere near as much about them trying to hack the network to prove a point--they're simply not interested in trying to beat us at that game. I know boys grammars still have to deal with a lot of that, though. Everyone who starts work here ends up sticking for longer than they anticipated. It's not an easy place to leave. Hard work still--but instead of expending all your energy on classroom management, you're being driven by the students to do more for them. Their self-motivation and organisation is incredible, and puts me to shame.
zag Posted November 5, 2015 Posted November 5, 2015 Yep all boys grammar here... I love the working environment. Will never forget the first day I joined the school and how nice the students were, opening doors for me or being very mature. Of course its not all roses (funding tends to be lower, especially on capital projects as we were seen to be doing very well in terms of results already). But now we are an academy as well, hopefully that situation has improved. Overall it certainly is a great career move if you can get in.
ColonelPogs Posted November 5, 2015 Posted November 5, 2015 I used to work in in Grammer school. On whole the students were fine. However a significant proportion of the teachers were absolute primadonnas.
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