The most Socially Selective schools in England.

I am a form tutor. I listen to my students. The ones who are affluent/with big houses often host the after show parties. I have also spoken to/empathised with many students unable to go on trips they would love to go on.
I know things because the students trust me and speak to me. Sorry if you think it's strange.

Very few of our students are ridiculously affluent. Most are normal. Some are struggling.
People assuming grammars are full of rich people puts them off applying. It really shouldn't.

Someone mentioned Ripon Grammar upthread, and I have knowledge of the school over a few generations. It isn't a city (albeit must be one of the smallest in the UK!) with a lot of pupils with FSM anyway, no Tesco, or Waitrose, but a big Morrisons and medium Sainsburys but in the past there was little tutoring, parental or otherwise. It really wasn't part of the local culture in the way it is in Grammar School areas like Kent and Bucks, it isn't the end of the world if you don't get into the Grammar because there are other good comp options for most parents in Boroughbridge / Harrogate. Now however the culture is taking hold and the recent admissions rounds have been far more fevered and tutoring is on the rise, the pupils getting in from local primaries are the ones from savvy families who have cottoned on to the trend and so social (or at least having switched on parents) exclusivity is definitely on the increase.

I'm always surprised that fencing is often equated with independent schools/or socially selective schools. It doesn't appear to require any specific facilities and the equipment also does not astronomically expensive.

Easy. Its a one on one sport.
When you have 300 kids in a year group, team sports are much less staff and resource hungry.
How many teachers would be the safe limit for 30 kids of mixed abilities armed with pointy metal things?

As someone who wasted 40 years on horses they too are not always owned by the wealthy.
It's so easy to stereotype.

I'm always surprised that fencing is often equated with independent schools/or socially selective schools. It doesn't appear to require any specific facilities and the equipment also does not astronomically expensive.

I work at one of these schools. Previously worked in another and studied at one myself.
One of the reasons locally to us for the lack of diversity, is that students no longer sit the exam in their primary schools like I did. We do a lot of work encouraging a wider range of students to enter but they don't. Threads like this put people off applying. There are a plenty of normal pupils at grammar schools. Neither of my parents had been to university and only one of my school friends could be called rich - and his family wasn't loaded!
I'm all up for encouraging more people to apply! We've made some changes recently which we hope will achieve this. To anyone reading this don't be put off applying. Not everyone who gets in has been tutored within an inch of their lives!

Yep. DS went to the second on the list (5 pupils out of over 1,000, over a six year period), and that number doesn't surprise me at all.

So many of his friends had not just a tennis court or swimming pool, but both.

And there's an equestrian team as well as a good rowing and a fencing team. It's another world to where he is now (gritty Northern University where he's meeting a much more healthy mix of people).

Back to the OP - having looked through those lists, it really is incredible and depressing that in this day and age we have some state schools which have no poor pupils and some state schools where 3 out of 4 pupils are poor.

I mean - how does that happen? It's absolutely indefensible.

handcream I doubt any of the migrants found floating this morning in the Med have private health insurance!!!

When I first arrived in the UK I had to report to the police every month as a registered alien. That went on for a couple of years.
We immigrants get very bored of you lazy locals

handcream at the risk of pointing out the bloody obvious illegal immigrants are not going to get insurance to cover health care!
I doubt when they are about to hide in the back of a lorry coming in through Dover the first question the lorry driver asks them is have they got health care insurance?
You may not dream of going to another country without adequate insurance but you have not paid somebody a large some of money to smuggle you out of your own country, escaping extreme poverty at best often war and persecution and probably still owe money, made a treacherous journey across land and sea and hidden in a lorry to get here. Having arrived you could be forced into prostitution or basically slavery knowing if you run away you family back in your own country will be punished. Adequate health care insurance is frankly not even on your radar.
Wake up these are illegal immigrants we're talking about here not middle class students taking a gap year in Australia.

Illegal immigrants held in detention centres are entitled to free health care this includes routine non urgent care, dental care and seeing an optician for eye tests even glasses are paid for. I do not have a problem with this.
Illegal immigrants living in the community also receive free health care, most attend A and E depts for even minor complaints as they are usually not registered with a GP. Many big A and E depts run GP type surgeries for not just illegal immigrants but others who are not likely to be registered; homeless, tourists, etc. As all parents of boarding school children know GP's will also temporarily register patients they do not ask to see proof of address.
In the NHS currently patients are asked if they have lived in the UK for over a year if they have not nursing/admin staff are meant to pass on their details to PALS or what ever they are called these days who could then chase them for the cost of care. But number 1 admin staff and nurse (who are too busy) often don't even other to ask the question or pass on the persons details and 2 PALS don't often chase them up and even if they do it is unlikely that they will get the money back, illegal immigrants frequently move around, even if the address given is correct at the time it is likely that by the time someone actually tries to get the money it won't be. Also the reality is that most illegal immigrants have very little money, few are raking in money the lucky ones work for friends and family but often for poor wages and the unlucky one gang masters for terrible money and as a friend and wise solicitor once told me you cannot get money where it doesn't exist.
Illegal immigrants are people just like us, they too have hopes dreams and aspirations for themselves and their families, many are exceedingly well educated, they often live in the UK for many years without getting caught they are usually working, they are not claiming benefits because obviously they can't, or living in social housing but getting some sort of wage managing to live (just) and sending any spare home to their families. In a civilised society we should not begrudge anyone access to health care even if they live in Slough.

Because we are nicer?

I do think that anyone coming to this country needs to prove they have private medical care already rather like they do in Australia.

The NHS is seen as very attractive if everyone and anyone regardless of status is allowed to access it. I agree it's not the role of the hospitals to police this but I wouldn't dream of going to another country without proper healthcare.

Why is it so different in the UK?

Just to clarify- I didn't mean true emergencies. I believe the drop in centre at Slough is used by people who wrongly assume it's a place they can get medical attention without any questions being asked. You either give your GPs details or proof of address to allow yourself to be registered there.

To be fair I don't think that anyone was referring true emergencies in A&E.

I did have to take proof of address (and ID and citizenship) when registering with my GP and at my appointment for a antenatal booking in at local hospital. This didn't happen six years ago when I had previous baby and registered with GP and MW you just needed an NHS number then.

happy, the unconscious patient, legal or illegal, carried horizontally on a stretcher into a hospital’s A&E department is called an Emergency! No, they do not have to provide evidence of any sort (humanly and physically impossible when unconscious) to receive treatment. But when they recover and found to be ineligible for free NHS treatment, then I’m afraid they’ll be asked to pay and quite rightly so.

I can believe it handcream. I haven't been to Slough since 1993 but can't imagine it's that great, I do drive around its edge to Windsor occasionally.