[steeljack]

re. shakermaker's above comments about kids being placed into 'top set' and 'bottom set' classes , I was one of those who failed the 11 plus and thus ended up at a Secondary Modern (Top Council in Gt. Harwood, later after amalgamation the Norden at Rishton) can only speak from experiance but in those days 'sets' were designated as streams A,B,C and D , A being the brightest kids and D being 'the not so bright' there was also an X class , which I suppose in these days would hold the "educationally retarded" and had kids in age ranging from 11 thru 15 in one class (seem to remember they had responsibility for the schools flower beds)
But, the way things operated at the Top Council/Norden was similar to the modern day football league , every year a number of lower performing pupils in one stream were relegated to a lower stream , and the better performing pupils of a lower stream moved up to a better ranking (and better teachers) this happened in every year . I don't belive anyone suffered PTS from being relegated .
I have to agree with Shakermakers arguement that kids are channelled into their futures at this early age .... in my case , kids in the A and B streams were sent for skilled apprenticeships whilst the kids in the lower grades were encouraged to find factory work, no idea what if any career advice was given to the kids in the X class .