Grammar and secondary modern pupils talk about year 8 | Education | The Guardian

Grammar and secondary modern pupils talk about year 8 | Education | The Guardian:

When we began following five Kent children at the start of secondary school, they were fretting about big kids and swearing. Now, they have more sophisticated concerns

Ellie, Lewis and Cameron - no longer 'nobodies' now they are in year 8 at King Ethelbert school. Photograph: Martin Godwin

It's two years since Education Guardian first met a group of year 6 children from St Saviour's primary school in Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, who shared with us their hopes and fears for the future at "big school". But moving up to a secondary wasn't the only thing they had to worry about. Living in one of the 36 local authorities that still have grammar schools, they also had the 11-plus exam to contend with and the divide between who would go to grammar school and who wouldn't. Two of the children from St Saviour's were off to a grammar and three to a non-selective high school.

When we caught up with them at the end of year 7, they seemed relieved that their biggest fears about big school – getting lost, being picked on by older kids, or accidentally hearing bad language – hadn't been such a bother. So, as they come to the end of their second year, how are they faring?