Would she be the 'poor relation'?

Independent Schools as an alternative to Grammar

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

11 Plus Mocks - Practise the real exam experience - Book Now
moved
Posts: 3826
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:42 pm
Location: Chelmsford and pleased

Re: Would she be the 'poor relation'?

Post by moved »

My children were accelerated a year in France and this was fine (but I did worry that they had "stolen" a year of their childhood) when they were young. DS is almost the oldest in the year but he is also small and not physically or mentally mature. I am glad that he is in the correct year as despite the crashing boredom in years 4-6 he would look very out of place in the year above.

If you are going for the accelerated route I think you need to look at the height of your child. Tall is great; small can be fodder for the bullies.
R3ad1ngDad
Posts: 59
Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2011 2:34 pm

Re: Would she be the 'poor relation'?

Post by R3ad1ngDad »

can i make a suggestion - if you do not mind boarding look at christs hospital - i am an old blue and although it has changed a bit it is still predominantly "poorer" background children all fees are means assisted. But the exam is really hard and i mean make standard 11+ look easy hard, you do an initial assesment in November which is about 11+ level and then if you get through that a residential assesment in early jan.
flicka
Posts: 79
Joined: Thu Dec 16, 2010 6:53 pm

Re: Would she be the 'poor relation'?

Post by flicka »

Hi again,
my son, who is ten and a half, would be in Year 5 in the UK, but in France (where we live) would be in CM2 (equiv of Year 6) so going up to Collège this September. Emotionally he is just not ready for that, educationally he should be there now. Dilemma.
I took him out of french school two years ago as he was making no progress, bored, staring out the window all the time (in every school report) and none of the teachers were making any efforts to engage his interests. Oh yes, they had extension work, but he was jolly good at avoiding having to do it, preferring the staring out of the window doing zilch.
Typical boy behaviour.
Plus, he was getting bullied (the school cook alerted us to this) because he was so different to the other kids. He likes astronomy, archaeology, history etc, and they liked football, football, football....
The school did nothing, as racial bullying is only racial in France if you are a different colour, not a different nationality (yes, we were pretty surprised about that!)
His french was good, but nothing could ever have made it as good as a child from a family where french was spoken at home all the time or half of the time, so they never suggested accelerating him (he was one of the youngest in his year anyway) and if they had he would still have been in the same class anyway as there were two years in each class.
When I went to a planning meeting to explain to parents what would go on in one of the years when he was at school I was quite horrified to be shown the THREE books the kids would take a whole YEAR to read! Jake reads a book in a few days at home.
So we took him out.
He has never looked back.
He is now as I said Year 5, but working on Year 8 maths, verging on level 8 already, lower in English probably due to extreme aversion to putting pen to paper (otherwise known as laziness) reading well above his age, spellings Year 8, etc.
Why not take your daughter out of school, OP? It is a fulfilling and exciting thing to do and I love every minute of it.
It is perfectly viable alternative for any child, but particularly a bored bright child as you can tailor the work to suit the child. We work at different levels for each subject.
Flicka
catonhottinroof
Posts: 34
Joined: Thu Jan 27, 2011 1:00 pm

Re: Would she be the 'poor relation'?

Post by catonhottinroof »

We've just gone through all this and, despite feeling somewhat sceptical at the start of the journey, when those enveloped dropped on the mat we were delighted to discover that there are plenty of top schools out there who will offer scholarships/bursaries to bright kids who could not otherwise afford to attend :D

Re the 'poor relation' element, maybe best to focus your attention on schools that are known for their patronage - for instance, Latymer Upper and Emanuel, both of which offer very good scholarships to the most able. Latymer's top 'foundation' scholarships are also means tested - and Emanuel is known for giving out more scholarships and bursaries than any other London school. At somewhere like these two, it's possibly easier for kids who are receiving financial assistance to slip under the radar as it were as there will be plenty of other kids in a similar situation.

Your daughter sounds as though she is well ahead of her year group, if not the one above - I would not be surprised if indie schools bit your arm off to have her. Go for it!
Kiwimum
Posts: 188
Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2011 10:46 pm

Re: Would she be the 'poor relation'?

Post by Kiwimum »

Wow, this forum is fantastic, where else could I get advice from people with such a wealth of experience.
Early entry, home schooling and boarding school - it's all been covered here!
Thank you all for your replies.
Reading dad, I had never heard of Christs hospital - you have enlightened me, a visit to their website was very interesting. I think DD2 would love to go to boarding school if only to get away from me!!
flicka
Posts: 79
Joined: Thu Dec 16, 2010 6:53 pm

Re: Would she be the 'poor relation'?

Post by flicka »

Hi Kiwimum,
glad you like all our replies! Glad to be of assistance.
Jake, my son who I am home schooling, is doing the entrance exam for Christ's Hospital this autumn, so hopefully might get a place. It is VERY competitive, plus they choose children with boarding need etc.
We also have him on the Eton list, where, quite surprisingly, they have 100% bursaries and a huge number of children not paying full fees! I was most surprised - can't remember how I happened upon it, but the lady in charge was lovely, so kind, friendly and normal. I'd never considered Eton before, although of my children all three of my now grownup children had aid of some kind, either a Government Assisted Place (pre their abolition) or a bursary. There is lots of help out there if you look for it, even in unexpected corners.
Eton is still monumentally daunting to me, and I have been putting off the visit to see round the school as I will definitely be feeling the 'poor relation' mentioned at the beginning of this post! But imagine the start in life it could give a boy.
Scary.
Loopyloulou
Posts: 878
Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2008 5:20 pm

Re: Would she be the 'poor relation'?

Post by Loopyloulou »

Whether it be "Habs" or Eton, you really shouldn't worry. You will be the poor relation make no mistake, but you certainly won't be the only one. Furthermore those with the real wealth are unlikely to show it, you're only likely to find out by accident, or if your children become particularly friendly with theirs. There might be a few showy types; pity them. You are better than they.
Last edited by Loopyloulou on Tue Aug 09, 2011 10:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
Loopy
Sassie'sDad
Posts: 459
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 3:36 pm
Location: Rugby

Re: Would she be the 'poor relation'?

Post by Sassie'sDad »

Totally agree with loopy; everything is relative but what matters most is the real values! Go for it!
Post Reply