It's one of those stories again....

[bondgirl]

It's hardly representative is it - and in the Daily Mail too (shock! horror! ) I wonder for whose benefit this type of hothousing is for? Is it really for the children or for the parents who are living vicariously through them. Surely the job of a parent is to bring up well rounded individuals who can eventually stand on their own two feet. A boy in my DD's year was tutored from pre-school. Yes, he got into the superselective grammar. But he was rarely allowed to socialise outside of school and was not allowed on the Year 6 school journey as it interfered with 11+ prep. There was so much pressure on him, if he didn't get top marks he would burst into tears.

We all want the best for our DCs, but at what cost?

[scarlett]

So, do we know any of the families mentioned ?!

[First-timer]

Talk about déjà vu! There was a Guardian article a couple of years back which was extremely similar. All the stuff about early starts with the tutor who now earns more than her old headmaster. It was a bit like a cut and paste job but with a different, younger cohort of tutees.

It represents the extreme behaviour of a few. The most common pattern of tuition seems to be an hour a week from Year 5. Some have a good deal less and the 5am starters are something that haven't troubled my consciousness outside the confines of newspaper articles.

I expect we'll see something unsurprisingly similar published next year during exam season. And the following year...

[Chelmsford mum]

So, do we know any of the families mentioned ?!

They probably lurk amongst us.

[First-timer]

And shop at Per Una if that skirt is anything to go by!

[Sally-Anne]

I expect we'll see something unsurprisingly similar published next year during exam season. And the following year...

Every year, without fail. <yawns>

[fatbananas]

That is the journo who posted on here. I remember the name.

[mystery]

3 hours of study after school every day on top of school homework. Now that would be fantastic wouldn't it. You wouldn't have to bother feeding them, talking to them, or playing with them as they'd have to start the minute they got home and when they'd finished there would only be time for bath and bed (at age 8 that is). And really you wouldn't have to buy them any possessions apart from school uniform and a change of clothes for the weekend tutor session as they wouldn't have the opportunity to need any dance or sport outfits, or need any fashion clothes for leisure time as there wouldn't be any. Maybe by the time they are ten or eleven you could increase it to 4 or 5 hours per evening and then you'd get the telly all to yourself.

[scarlett]

.........here's mine , studies for hours on end and can rustle up something tasty for dinner.

Copyright image removed by Moderator Sally-Anne. (Sorry, Scarlett.)

[inmystride]

3 hours of study after school every day on top of school homework. Now that would be fantastic wouldn't it. You wouldn't have to bother feeding them, talking to them, or playing with them as they'd have to start the minute they got home and when they'd finished there would only be time for bath and bed (at age 8 that is). And really you wouldn't have to buy them any possessions apart from school uniform and a change of clothes for the weekend tutor session as they wouldn't have the opportunity to need any dance or sport outfits, or need any fashion clothes for leisure time as there wouldn't be any. Maybe by the time they are ten or eleven you could increase it to 4 or 5 hours per evening and then you'd get the telly all to yourself.

Even better - after DC have finished their 1 1/2 hour GS homework, they begin three hours of Uni prep. Perhaps we can sneak into Oxford lectures, record them, and play them for DC's while they sleep. Fully qualified doctors, lawyers etc at the age of 17 and no uni fee's to fork out.