To think it’s hard for a middle class child to attend a working class school?

Well said.

Gosh, there’s some serious virtue signalling on this thread. Kids can be very cruel about perceived differences. I had a rough time in early secondary school because I was deemed ‘posh’ by my peers. My family actually had a very modest income and home but in comparison to the majority of kids who lived in council flats and houses I appeared well off. I also did not speak with the local accent which was a huge black mark against me. I never thought I was better than them in any way but my existence really got their back up.

Of course when I got to uni and was surrounded by truly middle class people I wasn’t good enough then either!

@TheaBrandt to be clear, my reference to middle class kids being superior was regarding their (potential) attitude of superiority, not that they are (actually or automatically) superior, in any way, to anyone else because their parents identify as middle class. 😂

Anyway, as you said it yourself - 'most' middle class kids being forced to be educated alongside the (uniformly uncouth and feral) poors would keep as low a profile as possible. Basically, doing precisely what any kid with any characteristic or feature that would be red meat to bullies would do if they had any sense.

My point is those without any sense/awareness of others will happily share their inbred air of superiority and make themselves, seemingly willing, red meat bedecked targets.

A bit like Will McKenzie.

It’s rather harsh to victim blame the bullied kids by saying the reason they are bullied is their fault for being “superior”! Most in this position are keeping an extremely low profile but commit the crimes of not having a local accent/ not pissing about in class / wanting to succeed at school/ doing well in tests. That made you posh in my day. It was fine though at my school as there were just enough of us who were like this to stick together.

At the school I went to you would have been beaten up nightly for being posh. But equally the bullies looked for any excuse - wrong shoes, wrong expression, wrong time.

My dds went to a school in the same town but there was a mix of kids so some were poor some rich. There was bullying but it wasn't specific to income

I’m “working class” and got bullied at school for being “posh”

I was posh according to the children because me and my parents were from a French speaking country - and my parents barely spoke English (now they do) so as a kid I had to learn a majority of the lanaguge at school.

My point is that it’s more about how the children perceive you and kids really arnt classist. Not really in primary school - I found you couldn’t really tell a huge difference between the children.

However when you join things like the PTA etc then the divide comes in and it’s more about the parents.

Yes, it is quite likely to be difficult.

I'd expect anyone who considers their family to be middle class to ensure their middle class children are educated alongside other middle class children. Particularly so if their children are not robust enough to deal with the poors, and/or believe themselves, via their parents' teachings/attitude, to be naturally superior to the poors.

Surely when middle class parents are unable to secure middle class education for their middle class children, they can no longer self-define as middle class? In reality, they are merely "upper class" poors, exercising delusions of being middle class.

What I have learned from this site is middle class people who overextend themselves financially to keep up with their middle class neighbours frequently look to their own middle class parents to pay for the education of their middle class grandchildren.

Perhaps that's the solution in this case? Beg or bully the middle class grandparents into stumping up the necessary fees?

One caution, though, ensure you calculate the amount of cash you're bullying/begging from the middle class grandparents includes enough to cover the VAT just in case when Labour return to power. 👍

Depends how stuck up the parents are - whether they express they're clear distaste of working class classmates

Kids get bullied for anything, the slightest difference will be picked on. I was horrifically bullied for being quiet, it wasn't just physical bullying, although that was bad, including being pushed down a full flight of stairs, having my nose broken, being punched so hard my lip had to be stitched, it was the psychological bullying that was the worst. No wonder I have been treated since I was 17 for anxiety & depression. I was diagnosed with autism age 53 & that explained why I never felt I fitted in but didn't excuse the bullying.

I grew up in a very disadvantaged area and went to a school full of very poor kids. But there were a handful of middle class kids in the school, from the nearby villages whose parents could not afford to send them to a private school.
The most popular boy in my year came from a fairly well off middle class family. He was handsome, sociable and witty.

This

Maybe you should write your own article. Just make it up if you don’t know what to write.

My understanding is that bullying is something state schools mainly ignore. Please address this asap and move if necessary. This is terrible for the child and affects their future. Hopefully you have options.

Then the Op needs advice about getting the school to address the bullying ,not endless stories about how terrible WC kids are.

No. Please learn to read. The OP is specifically talking about a child who is being bullied.

Another one who assumes all WC kids are bullies.

Yes ! This happened to me… one of the only middle class children in my primary school. Of course as kids we didn’t know about class/ money etc but kids KNOW when someone is different… I had no friends , everyone thought I was strange and I was bullied a bit. We then moved to a more MC areas and on the end of day 1 at the new school I had more friends than I had ever had . I still remember the joy of walking home with a group of girls who seemed to
want to be my friend… one of those girls is still my best friend. I reflect sometimes how different my life would have been ifl my parents hadn’t moved…

Well, yes if they are bullying you I imagine it is.

Let’s hope for some good luck ey, maybe you’ll get reincarnated as a middle-class child who gets badly bullied for five years for being so, and then you can experience its purifying and positive effects for yourself. Fingers crossed!

Identical experience to me.

I agree - I went to a school in an area that was classified as severely disadvantaged. We lived there as the large industry factory that was located there had company accomodation for managers. Everyone else in the town lived there for the extremely cheap housing. I didn’t really understand or think I was better than anyone but I knew that I was different. I was also extremely bright and so that made me feel like an outsider too. I never really had good friends and was treated like an outsider by the other kids too. When we would see other family friends, I remember them saying things about my povo school. We didn’t have many opportunities, like music programs or languages.

The MC kids who my common oik of a son was friends with were all stoners. And yes, their parties were wild when their parents went away.

And on this thread it seems to be mainly parents who experienced bullying for being “posh” back when they were at school (and it is bullying, not character building adversity training) and there have been fewer comments about the current generation of children so maybe things are improving.