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Emanuel School achievement for nothing...guilt

52 replies

Ummymumski · 14/02/2015 15:30

My DD has passed the entrance exam to Emanuel and been offered a full fee place. However we were hoping for a bursary or scholarship, neither of which have been offered and we can't afford the fees. I now feel guilty that we have put her through this for nothing. We have dangled a fantastic school in front of her and now have had to tell her she can't go. We thought we were trying every option to make sure we did the best by her but I now think our strategy was a mistake. Did we do the wrong thing? I'm not trying to assuage my guilt (well, maybe I am) but would genuinely appreciate others opinions (even negative). Has anyone had the same experience?

PS I'm a first timer here so apologies for any clangers...

OP posts:
Figmentofmyimagination · 14/02/2015 15:46

We went through all this - my DD won scholarships at two independents that she couldn't then take up - one because we couldn't find a house nearby that we could possibly afford and the other because my DH (whose idea it always was) hadn't done his homework to find out first that even with the 30% off we still couldn't afford it. Rationalising my guilt I suppose I thought that the test and interview in both cases were good "life experiences" and fortunately my DD wasn't 100% sold on the idea and neither test required any extra preparation beyond showing up on the day.

TheTescoManAlwaysRingsTwice · 14/02/2015 15:41

I entered DS for private school entrance exams for schools we couldn't afford.

I told him to look around and absorb that
A) there were a lot of bright and motivated kids around - and he'll be competing with them for uni.
B) That he's as good as any of them - and he shouldn't be intimidated by the private school 'trappings'

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