Thank fuck its no where near that…
It’s a full boarding school. Some day pupils who pay around 22 grand. There are some families who have 3 siblings here. Fucking mad amount of money.
I think TCK, you hit on a valid point- most Private schools are not selective… but offer scholarships and bursuries for the brighter few. Wat appeals t me is teh gretaer freedom on the Curriculum (IB instaed of Alevels etc) and real emphasis on the arts outside of classroom - focus on building confidence and the resources that thsoe extra ££ pay for. To get all schools to the same levels of reources would require a 3x increase in educational funding sothat all schools were funded to a level of approx £12k per year per student… whilst there is no political will to tax us to spend that sort pon money on education then I have no hesitation in spending the money we could shove in the bank for a decent retirement on my daughters education as its best local school… She may waste it… who knows, but as a parent, I will do waht I can to try and get her on a reasonable path…
Aside from some obvious pupil cliches that are fulfilled (one minor royal and several members of aristocratic families on the roll call) the number of foreign students (quite a few Chinese and a surprising number of Spanish kids) is interesting. It’s where a lot of independent schools now focus their recruitment energies - to the extent that many are now opening schools in the Far East as additional income streams. As far as homegrown students are concerned the majority are children of high earning professionals = accountants, chartered surveyors, architects…that kind of thing.
Oh…and the teaching is definitely not better. Indeed some of the teachers wouldn’t/didn’t last 5 minutes in the state sector. I do have time to do my job ‘properly’ though - without killing myself- which is really fucking nice.
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Like any school you need to do your homework on what is actually achieved re academic standards - we chose the local independent as it had the best results at IB in Scotland. As you say, quite an international flavour in part because it attracts many kids from the international academic staff at the local university. That diverse cultural mix is also appealing. My daughter also plays with and is friends with the local kids where we live so gets exposed to a good cross section of backgrounds and social mix.
There are shit teachers everywhere, and as I say it’s why parents do their homework - some try and move home to fit in a catchment or start going to mass!
I’ll never be convinced, AG. My cumulative and entirely subjective view from my own life experiences of privately educated kids is not top. As I’ve recounted before, I’ve got one mate who blames his dad for not being richer, and believes a lack of private education has held him back. My view is its not that, and that I’d be dealing with a man of comparable ability to the one I know, except the privately educated version would probably moan about being deprived of a state education.
In most cases, it’s simply buying short term success, like a shortarse wearing Cuban heels or Derek Smalls sticking a foil wrapped cucumber down a trouser leg.
A much held rather cliched and stereotypical POV… Imho… I can of course only base that on my personal experience of kids from both sides of the educational divide- and there are wonderful folks, average folks and complete cunts from All walksof life. School does not fuck up children, parents have a much bigger impact as with all things.
Your opinion is a rather blinkered and prejudiced in my opinion.
There is No such thing as short term success - there is only parents looking to try and give their kids a reasonable start and see what happens - you won’t be convinced because you disagree with the principle irrespective of any rational debate - fair enough but you are better sticking to your principles than suggesting all independent school educate do kids are somehow all like the twats you seem to have met. They are not and to suggest so indicates a prejudice
And there we agree. I always knew we’d have to make up any educational deficiencies at school with the collective efforts of myself and the missus at home. That has largely happened.
What we didn’t have to do was keep the kids wrapped in cultural cotton wool for the formative years of their lives.
… the point is Pap, they are not just because they a attend an independent school if parents don’t wish them to be… and whilst some do, most that I know don’t - many have siblings at state schools, the division being due to educational need, most have friends outside of school as well… I just think you view is based on a reasoned principle but distorted by a prejudiced based on a few isolated examples…
Sutton Trust calls for universities to make their’contextualised admissions’ clearer
I work at a Russell Group university and had no idea that we had contextualised admissions until our babysitter announced she had an offer of ABB for her course which would normally require AAA. This was because she was at a failing school for much of her secondary school life, and on free school meals for a time.
Irritatingly, rather than go to my university to do her degree (and by extension, be able to continue babysitting our kids) she went off to some dump in Wales (Cardiff) where I’m sure she will have a fantastic time (while selfishly robbing us of very convenient babysitting services).
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Heres a question for Pap & AG. Down here there are no state schools for expats so i had to bleed myself dry to put my kids through school then Uni.
The fees here are high yet you mention £12k a year as being needed in a state system?
Which is what many pay here for private.
Also when my kids went back to UK all of them had a higher EQ and were at least 6 months academically ahead of UK Schooled kids.
The only difference I could see is our facilities were better but disposable stuff - books field trips eta were worse. I also thought that the only real difference here was the lack of a “political opinion” amongst teachers they taught the subjects not doctrine like I’d seen in my days.
Also here, bad teachers were simply fired.
Not saying it was perfect but all their classmates are now in good jobs around the world. Equally costs here have gone so high younger mates have no chance of paying the fees - SW Asians who make up the bulk of the population are finding it very hard to educate their kids even in Indian syllabus schools.
(My kids did IB’s so think that helped them be more rounded)