it would have been really easy to just let her ride the public school path, and those options would probably not be open to her.
This is the reason I take issue with the selective school system over here. About 8-9 years ago, I heard it straight from the horse’s mouth (when I made a phone enquiry with the Dept of Education about whether my eldest could sit a couple of HSC subjects in Yr 11 which is an option available at selective schools) that gifted students are catered for by selective schools and therefore there are no facilities to cater for gifted students in mainstream schools.
This made me realise that by having two different streams within the public school system, many students in the nonselective schools are not being supported to reach their potential.
Fortunately for my younger two, there were a number of changes to senior teaching staff at our local high school and DS successfully sat the selective school exam to demonstrate his capabilities. We then met with senior staff to discuss what they would offer him, before we made the decision to enrol him. Our local school has been great in living up to their promises and DS has the best of both worlds - support to explore his potential without having to commute hours a day which many selective school students have to do, so if anything, he is at an advantage (it has been mutually beneficial since DS is the school’s poster child for showcasing their achievements). All this did require a lot of parental effort to lay down the groundwork (& their older sister as a trailblazer with high achievements largely by her own steam), so I’m very sympathetic to other families who lament that they are torn between the selective school system which seems like an education arms race and their local schools which offer very little and can therefore personally testify that there are many Caucasian families who do care about academics even if their children end up languishing in mainstream schools. Little wonder that the private school system (which I do not support) has managed to expand so quickly in the market.
