Charterhouse

[plea77]

Hi All,

I've got two questions and I was wondering if anyone can help please.

Firstly, I'm thinking about registering my 10 year old ds to Charterhouse. I had heard many good things about the school over the years. Recently there was an article in the Telegraph which wasn't very complimentary about the current head and it got me slightly concerned. Now I know that this may not be true as it could have been one parent who was not happy with him. But I was hoping that maybe I could ask someone on here who has a child at the school what they really think about the school and the head.

Secondly, it says that the boys don't need to sit for a pre test but need to go through an interview. Is this true? have any of you had your ds sit for this interview, is it generally quite easy? would you say that if your ds has a good reference from his current head he would most probably get in?

I'm just surprised by the fact that there is no pre test in year 6 as most of the other schools make the boys sit for one.

Any advice would be greatly appreciate.

I'm sorry it's so long winded and I hope it all makes sense.

Thank you so much.

[happygardening]

I think I've heard that the current head is leaving?
Here is a description of their admissions process it appears they've decided to introduce pre testing for boys starting in 2018 not sure if that would apply to your DS.

[Pigeonpair1]

My son is registered with Charterhouse for 2018 entry and needs to sit a pre-test in February/March next year (he is currently in Year 6). This is their first year of pre-testing and they have brought it in as most other schools are doing it I think!

They are at pains to say that the Headmasters Report carries great weight and that they will never fail a boy on the result of his pre-test alone.

[plea77]

Hi happygardening, thank you so much for sending me the link. I can't believe I missed it. I had received their prospectus only a few months ago and it said that the boys will only be interviewed as they don't believe in testing boys two years in advance. Mmm they don't seem to be very organised. It seems that even my son's prep seem to think that the boys will only be doing an interview. I will definitely show that to my ds's school as they're telling everyone there's no pre-test.

Pigeonpair1, I will be registering my ds for 2018 entry too. I'm visiting the school this Saturday. We are slightly nervous about it all as it's been getting some bad press recently. I've had quite a few friends who had attended many years ago and had very good things to say about the school but then recently there was all this talk about people wanting the Head to leave. Hopefully things will seem clearer on Saturday.

[Ahwoo]

Plea

How was the visit?
I did a Google search and some of the comments following the press articles were quite damning on this matter.

[plea77]

Hi Ahwoo, I have to say I'm glad I went to visit. I loved the school. I met the head for about 5 minutes and he seemed to be nice enough. I asked some friends of my husband's who were at the open morning who used to attend the school and they said that apparently it was a student just trying to cause trouble. It's hard to know what's true. The best would be to speak to a current student. The students did seem to be very happy there.

[manicinsomniac]

I believe it's the most expensive school in the UK - on those grounds you'd think it must be pretty good or it wouldn't have any pupils!!

[happygardening]

manicinsomniac its not the most expensive school in the UK!

[manicinsomniac]

Really? It was only British school listed in some list of the most expensive schools in the world I read the other day (most of the others were Swiss). But can't remember where the article was. Some independent school magazine that was lying around in our staffroom I think. I'll have to see if I can find it.

[ImperialBlether]

Happygardening, where is the most expensive school? I've just looked up Eton, Harrow, Westminster and Charterhouse and they are all a few pounds around the £36,000 mark.

[happygardening]

You're right they all charge about the same approx 36K I was just pointing out that Charterhouse is not "the most expensive in the UK" you can find others who are a 100 or so pounds more a year.
manicinsomniac here (Eton link might not work) and here are two examples of schools charging slightly more and I've only looked on two websites. I never believe what magazines say about schools.

[manicinsomniac]

fair enough, thanks.

The article put Charterhouse at £38K. Must have made a mistake (or picked a few extras to takc on so they could pick one school over the others)

[ImperialBlether]

Talk about displacement activities; I've no idea why I'm looking up fees for those schools when my children are in their twenties and I wouldn't send them there anyway!

[happygardening]

Probabaly 38K with extras.
The bottom line is that the fees for Charterhouse (and others) are outside the reach of anyone but the seriously wealthy as it appears they are not overly generous with their bursaries.

[homebythesea]

Hurtwood House is the most expensive school at over £40k (6th form only)