Worst set of GCSE results possible at private school (really)?

Ah. Thanks Bestseller.

This OP has another thread about how she has to protect her privately educated child from learning how the other half live atm...

I know loads of kids that have done exceptionally well in croydon state schools.

So, although my experience is dated, I don’t equate private education with stellar results.

I agree.

Both DH and I went to bog standard secondary schools. He has a first from Oxford. I have a first from a Russell Group Uni.

Well you sound quite patronising tbh OP.

God what a mean spirited thread. Come share anecdotes about kids that didn't do well. All the better if their parents paid for their education. Not mumsnet at it's finest

A580Hojas

A child getting stellar A level results from a school like that will have many more opportunities for Oxbridge etc success than a privately educated spoon fed child.

Somebody sued - and won - their child’s boarding school because he totally failed everything.

Where did you find that ruling? I can only find articles that say the school won and that the mum openly condemned Scott Craddock for what he did, troll website included. I’m interested to find out what compensation he received.

A lot of people send their children to private school for the opportunity to learn in a perceived calmer environment, smaller class sizes, contacts/networking and what is offered, rather than guaranteed high results. Not all, obviously, but a young person’s results are down to a number of factors and not solely due to being dragged through the lessons, spoon-fed, with all responsibility taken away from them. I don’t see anything wrong with a private school teaching resilience as opposed to freaking out about the league tables (hence they are quite happy to do the IGCSEs, which don’t count in the tables)
Our nearest private school sent fewer students to Oxbridge than our local comp did (good on the comp!) but then they don’t have to send out texts to parents informing them of another knife attack just outside the school gates, like the comp has had to do, this week.

My child did English language and literature, maths, chemistry, physics, biology, art, RE, history, French, Latin and Citizenship at a fully comprehensive school in Lewisham (not far from Croydon then) and got 4 x A*, 4 x A and 2 x B and was by no means one of their highest achievers. A child who did their gcses there this year got 12 x 9s. So do please stop talking utter rubbish whoever it was who said you can't get a good education at a London comp ffs!

I agree school isn't only about results and IMHO the extras are far for valuable.

I was recently at an event aimed at aspiring engineering students currently in sixth form.

All the children there would be on track to get decent Alevel results but the public school kids were more articulate, confident, polished, charming etc etc. Those are the things that really get you places, (plus the contacts you make if you mix in those circles of course) not the difference between a B&C at GCSE.

My DS is currently applying for a field that's is dominated by the public school educated and I really hope there some positive discrimination because otherwise he has a serious disadvantage. They even look "superior" in their dress, and hair cuts etc, like they just expect to do well where ever they go.

What's wrong with B's and C's at GCSE level? Also I got CCD in my A levels and I'm in my last year at uni and going on to do a masters. You sound really judgemental OP, what if your son gets more B's and C's? Will you disown him?

I was privately educated many years ago, at a well known school.

I was top of the class in most subjects.

Then financial disaster struck and I was placed in the local all girls leafy comp ages 14. I was convinced I’d wipe the floor with the oiks academically.

I was distinctly average there. Many fiercely bright kids who hadn’t been spoon fed.

So, although my experience is dated, I don’t equate private education with stellar results.

Round here, the brightest kids go to grammars and those that fail the 11+ go private.

My sons education has cost similar

He joined the school at 11 and was in gifted and talented program at primary - way ahead of his peers

He Is year 11 at the moment and looking at 5/6's if he lucky

He simply doesn't care and doesn't work hard.
He was predicted A* for everything in year 7 but 5 years down the line with little effort that is no longer the case

I'm gutted but I can't force him to try harder

We just hope he gets enough to get on to his college course

I don't think it's been a waste of money as he has enjoyed his time boarding and gained some life skills. I worry that at our local school he would have been much worse

This will descend into the usual bollocks about private schools anyway.

The only children who might get better results at a private school are children who would never in a million years go to one.

Wrong again. DS2 would have underachieved in our local comp because he's a lazy arse.

I think that people who send their kids to private school have to tell themselves that their child's gcses are worth more than those obtained at a state school to try and convince themselves it was worth all the money.

Well, if I was going to send my children private, it would be for the extras- the "stuff" that money can buy. For the cultural/social capital. For (probably) a higher %age of "people like us". For onsite provision of things that I think of as important and which I have to provide separately. I would not expect better results for privileged, well supported children. The only children who might get better results at a private school are children who would never in a million years go to one.

@Vanguard121 ... yikes.. how bloody rude to suggest that dingit's son's GCSE's achieved at a comprehensive school must be worth less than those acheived at an Independent one.

Sadly, as your attitude painfully demonstrates, those that are lucky enough to be in the 7% of students in the country who are privately educated, do gain an inexplicable advantage in life that has got nothing to do with actual qualifications, intelligence or good manners but is due to ingrained snobbery and elitism.

Nobody sends their child private for the results. Whatever they tell you!

Why did I send my children private then? Do tell.

I like daffodils a lot more than orchids! [misses point]

That's a very sweeping statement, Bertrand. We didn't send our children private for the results, but we certainly did send them there so they could study subjects that either weren't available in our local state schools or weren't guaranteed to be taught by graduates in those or closely related subjects. We looked at results along with a whole lot of other stuff to see what the schools were like. The traditional academic education was a huge part of what we were paying for.

No it was an academy, and yes they were all academic, including triple science, and additional maths, she took her maths gcse in year 9. She went on to a grammar for sixth form and is now doing a masters degree in engineering.

May I suggest you look at Riddlesdown? A friends 3 dc got outstanding GCSEs there.

Incidentally, I may be wrong, but I don't think AVCE has been around since the early 2000s. It was a vocational qualification- the sort of thing that we are sadly lacking now we are trying to make all kids jump through academic hoops regardless how suitable/useful they are for them.

"We could never consider the Croydon comps because they are all creative with their results."

Really? How do they manage that?

Indeed. However, a daffodil bulb given plenty of water and light, planted in good soil, not overcrowded and kept at the right sort of temperature...
Absolutely, but it will oy even be a daffodil, not an orchid. Not everyone is able to be an orchid / brain surgeon / rocket scientist / straight A* student