Head warns over 'bunfight' for places at top schools

Parents are forcing their children to commute for up to 10 hours a week to get into the most sought-after private schools in Britain, a head teacher warned today.

Jane Grubb, headmistress of Bedales prep school in Hampshire, said children were being required to travel long distances – or drilled for months to pass entrance exams – when they should be spending time enjoying themselves.  Tutoring is increasingly popular in preparation for the 11-plus and Common Entrance – the traditional entry exams for state grammar schools and private senior schools.

One study last year suggested almost half of families in some parts of the country paid for private tutors to prepare sons and daughters for school entrance tests.

Mrs Grubb, the head of Dunhurst – the prep school attached to Bedales senior school – said that many parents were also prepared to send their children on lengthy commutes to secure places at some establishments.

Speaking to the Evening Standard, she said: “It starts when children are as young as eight. By the time they get to 10 they are spending two terms doing old exam papers to try to get into these places.  “Parents genuinely want them to be happy but they need to put their heads up and see what other life there is. The 10 hours they spend commuting could be spent getting more sleep or seeing their friends.”

Question 1. Indicate whether these sentences are true or false. Justify your answers with evidence from the text.

a) Children are being obliged to travel long distances to certain schools.

b) Children are advised to have more time for themselves.

c) In some areas parents often pay for private lessons.

d) Parents are believed to be doing the right thing.

Question 2. Answer the following questions in your own words.

a) What are the children requested to do by their parents to attend some schools?

b) What is the opinion of the people who are against?

Question 3. Find a word or a phrase in the text that means the same as:

a) to travel par. 1

b) to train par. 2

c) to guarantee par. 4

Question 4. Rewrite the following sentences without changing the meaning.

a) Children were being required to travel long distances.

            Parents...

b) Parents send their children on lengthy commutes to secure places at some establishments.

            If parents...

c)  She said: “It starts when children are as young as eight”

            She said that..

Question 5. Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the following topic:

            Are children nowadays doing too many extra curricular activities?