Have you seen that uniform?

[karen1004]

I was amazed to see the uniform the kids wear to that school New Hope Christian School. It looks so old fashioned, but I dare say smarter than most of the schools around here, but is that what they wear all the time, I mean the older ones wearing the same as the younger ones? I'm new around here so I was a little taken aback to see schoolgirls wearing hats, it brings back bad memories form my old school days. I imagine it is a faith school and probably very expensive, am I right?

Karen

[Townleygreen]

their web site says the fees are

Tuition Fees per Month by standing Order

?450 For Pre-School (age 3 to 5)

?550 For Primary (age 6 to 10)

?650 For Secondary (age 11 to 18)

a lot cheaper than Alleyns, JAGS or DC - as you'd expect I guess

[RosieH]

They charge a non-refundable ?50 just to REGISTER you - whether you subsequently get a place or not.

How terribly "first shall be last and last first" and "rich man / eye of a needle" of them...

[vinceayre]

Here is an insight from a parent who sends both my kids to private schools and how super competitive it is for yr 7 places.

I was at a beauty parade last night at my sons prep school. All the Heads from ten local private senior schools were there to sell their school to us prospective customers. My son will sit for five schools (at ?80 each sitting)to achieve two places hopefully and we have already started the toadying up to the heads last year at open days, this is for September 2011 by the way. I know parents who sit their sons for over twelve schools just to see what happens, if there were no non refundable registration fees virtually every one would be sitting for all the local schools at the same time. This is what happens at the local grammar, the top grammar had over 1500 kids sitting for 100 places a year or so ago.

My little angel sat for a school in January a year in advance on the basis that if he got a place they would keep it open, I sat him in the fair knowledge that he wouldn't get a place just yet but i wanted him to get the experience. Half of the year five boys in the area also turned up that day for exactly the same reason. Needless to say he didn't get in but I spoke to the headmaster of that school last night and he insisted I ring him next week to discuss his scores for the three exams he sat with a view to gaining a place next January. One of the boys who did get a place and who is at a very good school at the moment, where he can stay all the way to A level, his mother was speaking to my wife this week at the gym and said the only problem was that she had to ring the headmaster up and ask for her son to be shown the school as he had never been to see it. For her it is simply about bragging rights and playing the game.

I never wanted to be part of this game as we are not pushy parents but I know every child in my sons year has had a private tutor for the past year and a half on Maths English and most importantly Verbal Reasoning, they will sit for all the private school that are recommended by the Head because she knows which schools will do deals to get her pupils and I know virtually all of his year will sit for the grammar this September but only half of them will have any intention to send their children there, the other half will use it as practise for the January exams. From Easter onwards they will do SATS and entrance exam papers every day and have at least an hours of exam homework a night. A week before the September term starts this year they are holding booster days for our kids and it is expected that they will attend.

When my son left his nursery to go to prep school I was shocked at what went on and didn't know what the game was about then. He didn't get into his prep of choice but we soon learned how to play the game, if we wanted this type of eduction for our child you had to be willing to do all this for him to have any chance of getting into the schools that are best for him. It is hyper competitive out there. If you get three good offers then you can negotiate the fees downward by quite a lot so it is worth paying the registration fees in the beginning because you will have a far better chance at getting your cash back in the end.

[Sandperson]

How depressing. :(

[Brendan]

But competition is good! This is just the beginning. In ten years time elderly people will have to run a 100 yard dash to see which of them gets to have their bunions treated.

[Brendan]

Vote Conservative! (tu)

[Ted Max]

To be fair to Vince I'm not sure he's endorsing the situation - just pointing out how utterly bananas it is.

Vince, you live in the 'burbs anyway, I think, isn't there a nice local school your children can go to - through a process that doesn't risk them seeing school as merely a succession of stressful STOP/GO barriers to be navigated?

[Sandperson]

I wasn't commenting on Vince, I admire his dedication. I just think it's a depressing sitiution and sounds exhausting and financially costly.

[Brendan]

Not to mention mentally and emotionally detrimental for the children.

[vinceayre]

There are some good schools near us but I was educated privately as was my wife and I would feel it would be unfair to them not to give them the best start possible. Yes it is expensive and it does cripple me financially each time i pay out a terms fees but it was the choice we made and we will stick to it. Only eight more years to go, not that im counting mind.

AS far as I can see there are three types of private school parents. The first are professional / city types who earn pots of cash and think nothing of ?5k a term, these people invariably have a school fund full of cash from some bonus or other and the school fees are set for life. In many cases so are the grand kids still yet to be born. Secondly there are local business people of varying degrees of success who pay fees from earned income, some with ease and some find it tough. Thirdly, and this was a shock to me, there are the parents who cant afford it but the Grandparents can. So its not all Little Lord Fauntleroy by any means and you do get a broad range of society in the class rooms.

I personally think we would have a better society if all children of primary school age had to attend the local state primary school.

"mentally and emotionally detrimental for the children" or getting them ready for a competitive life. I cant think which golfer said it but he said " Its funny the more I practice the luckier I get"

[LegalEagle-ish]

I suppose that would depend on how you measure success. If having happy, balanced children who care about their relationships with other people is how you measure success then I'd question the success of the private school system.

[Brendan]

vinceayre Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> "mentally and emotionally detrimental for the

> children" or getting them ready for a competitive

> life.

I don?t know so much. I?m all for competitiveness in schools and in fact I think there isn?t enough of it in the uk. I?m convinced that the fact that our schooling involved spending at least 50% of our time trying to beat the shit out of each other is why we South Africans are so much better at everything.*

But the right to attend a decent school in the first place should be fundamental and any pressure should be carried by the parents. Kids shouldn?t have that stress in their lives.

I?m not criticising anyone here. The system is as it is at the moment and we all just have to do what we think is best. I don?t for a minute suggest that I?m going to take some pious, ideological position when it comes to the education of my children.

I just remember back to my school days and how seriously some kids took things like exams and achievement. To the point that I knew some who became ill and even landed up in therapy. A fiend of mine used to pull his hair out in his sleep due to stress at 16 years old. Surely it would only be worse if they had to compete for the privilege of just being taught.

Although I?m perhaps being a bit hypocritical as I wrote an entrance exam to get into my high school. I didn?t care much about it at the time. If I didn?t get in I would have just gone to the school down the road which was pretty much as good and cheaper for my folks. I got in, dicked about for a few years and ended up in university at the end of it where I dicked about some more then ended up in an office for further dicking about.

*Before anyone jumps down my throat this is what is known as ribbing.

[Brendan]

Having reread that last paragraph I?m thinking of giving career advice of perhaps becoming a motivational speaker.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Brendan de Bono has a good ring to it.

[Ted Max]

I got in, dicked about for a few years and ended up in university at the end of it where I dicked about some more then ended up in an office for further dicking about.

This would be a splendid personal statement on your CV, Brendan.

[Brendan]

Good point. At the moment I have it listed under, ?Dicking about experience?.

[vinceayre]

Sounds like your bald mate got off lightly, the dicking and ribbing are euphemisms right? Sounds like you were a very disturbed youngster.

[Brendan]

Perhaps, but I got better and grew into a disturbing adult.

[Pugwash]

Hubby won a bursary to Dulwich College in 1962/3 and a place at Alleyns, father did not allow him to take up place as he was a Catholic. Paid to go to St. Joseph's College (it was fee paying then) Due to 'racism' at that time and not being 'pure English'hubby was placed, along with other bilingual boys and 'non white' boys in the C stream. Despite being very bright and getting marks in the 80s and 90s, was not allowed to progress to higher streams. Follwing a refusal by the school to allow him to study Latin (only those in A & B streams were permitted), his family removed him from St. Joseph's and sent him to a private boarding school, followed by a private college for A levels. Achieved a Maths A level at 17 after 6 months of study then spent the next few months in Maudsley.

Hubby is very against private education as he feels that his on going poor emotional health was partly the result of always having to prove himself. He experienced discrimination as he has dual language and was not considered English by the school. Ironically had his family just got a private Latin tutor in and he stayed at St Joseph's, he as a 'C' stream pupil would have automatically been entered for 10 O levels and 3 A's (A & B stream did 4 or 5)and would have done far better academically. His father would have been classed as a 'city type' as an Insurance Underwriter with massive bonuses.

There are advantages nowadays in some private education, but the entrance exam system is geared to those who are academically superior - and seems to not consider other aspects of a child's personality/achievements.

A friend whose child is in the final year at St. Dunstans, has always praised the way that the school has developed her child and made her a well rounded individual. I suppose it comes down to what the parents expect their child to achieve academically, the ability of the child to compete against his peers, the level of pressure put on by the school to get those exam grades etc.

None of our 3 daughters went to private schools and 2 went to university after Sydenham Girls School

[Santerme]

I was originally educated privately, but ended up in an Inner London school, Tulse Hill.

I went on to Durham and did ok.

Both my children have been educated through the state system in Dorset...

My eldest is a UCL in her first year doing European Social Studies and Politics and my younger daughter goes to the London College of Fashion next year to do a Bachelor degree in Photography.

It's all about the willingness to learn despite the distractions around you.

The lifelong friend I walked through the doors of Tulse Hill with came from a one parent low income family and he is ?47 million pounds richer than I am.