Diversity in independent schools

[SnowballMum]

Congratulations to those children and parents that managed to secure the school of their choice. My own DD and I will be going through the process next year.
I have started looking at independent schools in London because of the additional opportunities that they provide over the local state schools, however I would like one that is diverse in both culture and race.

Which of the independent schools in London is the most diverse?

[mad?]

Welcome to the forum
It depends what you mean by diverse. Ethnically the central London schools (and perhaps others of which I am less familiar) are diverse, reflecting London's make up. Economically those with more generous bursary schemes more so, GLSG, Latymer Upper and perhaps SPSG being those that most spring to mind. Socially, in terms of reflecting reality and the lack of social and cultural capital that many in London (and elsewhere) have then none of them, but the same is true for any of the accessible grammar schools as well. Good luck!

[nylon14]

City has always struck me as both ethnically and economically diverse, as well as JAGS.

[streathammum]

I don't understand. How can schools that cost upwards of £20k a year possibly have an economically diverse cohort? I know they make bursaries available for a small proportion of their intake but the majority of families will be paying full fees - by no definition can they be described as economically diverse or refelective of the UK population.

[mad?]

It does somewhat depend on the schools, some have a significant not small number of bursary pupils. However, of course none of them mirror the economic make up of London. For what it is worth I don’t think the grammars or high performing comps do either, but then that is another story.

[streathammum]

I'm sure there's a correlation between the selectiveness of a school and the ecomomic background of its cohort. On the whole, if you want a diverse cohort, then a non-selective school is the way to go.

I would stand by my previous point though. Anyone paying full fee for an indepdent school - who can find £20k per year, per child, out of post-tax income - is very well off indeed, and if this is the majority of people in a school then it's not an economically diverse school.

[hermanmunster]

I think that is probably right - the least diverse schools are probably rural non selective comprehensives.

Remember some discussion about the KE schools in B'ham and that the GS were less socially diverse than the the indies (who do have a loy of bursary funding)

[ToadMum]

To be fair, a school which in any given year group has 10% parents paying full fees for their only DC but nearly crippling themselves financially to do so, 88% paying full fees for two or more DC and enjoying multiple holidays a year alongside and a couple of DC on 50% bursaries is 'economically diverse'. After a fashion.

[mad?]

I think the point is that if the OP is asking is asking about economic diversity, then yes, there will be some very wealthy people at Indies in London, some really struggling (to pay the fees) and some on some sort of bursary. The spread of this will depend on the school, and the purpose of OP's question is still unclear. Diversity is not about how many people are not like you, it is about diversity, and the one thing all the Indies/grammars/popular comps have in common is a huge lack of the disadvantaged child, be it socially, economically or anything else.

[EUMum]

I think the point is that if the OP is asking is asking about economic diversity, then yes, there will be some very wealthy people at Indies in London, some really struggling (to pay the fees) and some on some sort of bursary. The spread of this will depend on the school, and the purpose of OP's question is still unclear. Diversity is not about how many people are not like you, it is about diversity, and the one thing all the Indies/grammars/popular comps have in common is a huge lack of the disadvantaged child, be it socially, economically or anything else.

As a generic statement I would agree but in reality it really depends on the schools you look at.

My experience (London) is that some state schools are much less diverse than certain indies. The reason being that some indies do have a "not insignificant" number of bursaries enabling students from lower income families to attend the school. At the same time the local schools are much more homogeneous due to the simple fact that it costs a fortune to buy a property or rent nearby to be able to live within "catchment".