Winchester, St. Paul's, or Eton?

Would I be correct in thinking your experience is based on your son going there but having left a good few years ago?

@peteneras

I think Eton is an incredible school and would be over the moon if my son attended.

However you do come across as a little bit unhinged, there’s no escaping that.

As for your comment that bullying hardly exists... how on earth do you know?!

I don't "crop up" on these threads repeatedly as you put it @Receptacle - just trying to answer and help someone, anyone, asking a specific question on a subject I know best. Quite unlike some who profess to be an expert in everything under the sun. You therefore, don't see me "cropping up" pretty much anywhere else on the entire MN spectrum.

No apologies therefore, for writing extensively on the subject of Eton. Some may call it "massively invested" and "unhinged" etc. Just so you know, the "investment" comes from the opposite end instead via a couple of full scholarships. We just needed one!

No question, I'm a huge fan and supporter of the great School but nowhere near a fanatic supporter/fan of (say) Man Utd or Arsenal or Liverpool etc; literally investing thousands of £s annually by following their team(s) up and down the country and abroad, in a utterly useless pursuit just to hoping to see their team(s) may be putting a bag of air in the opponents' net more times than the opponents.

There are also some deluded and disillusioned pp here who would be put off by my postings and run a mile. How sad! Little do they realise the odds are massively stacked against them and with only

"The phrase first time buyer is traditionally used re parents opting for private education, not joining Mumsnet."

That's precisely what I meant. I was "buying" into the private sector some 20 years ago arguably even before MumsNet was conceived. Only joined MN in the last 10 ~ 12 years.

@ReceptacleForTheRespectable amen

I have to say you are the number one poster who would put me off Eton (although I'm sure most parents are slightly more measured in their attititude to the school). You sound incredibly overly invested in the school and it's alumni.

I agree with this. Peteneras crops up on these threads repeatedly, and often sounds almost unhinged in their adulation of what is, at the end of the day, just a school. A good school, yes, but it's just a school. If this is what Eton parents are typically like, I'd run a mile.

The phrase first time buyer is traditionally used re parents opting for private education, not joining Mumsnet. It's nearly as snobbish as announcing that people need 'to be put back in their proper place,' so using it doesn't reflect well on me either. Although I have heard many teachers use it. Most of us on here are just trying to be vaguely helpful to posters wanting info re schools for their DC, as the days of automatically attending the same schools as previous generations of your family are gone. Anyway, the poor OP has scarpered I think. Who knows if and when the kids can go back and, btw, the HM of Hall Grove wrote an interesting letter to the Times yesterday positing a difference of opinion between the NUT and the private school sector.

Nothing wrong with being slightly bonkers. It’s what makes life interesting.

No skin the game here at all but I haven't seen a proper bonkers mumsnet thread for a while so thanks for the entertainment peteneras

@peteneras BJ only won because he was up against Corbyn. If it was a choice between BJ and Keir for example I’d vote Keir despite usually voting conservative.

Political derailments aside this thread has been interesting. Our children are still young but we’ve decided not to send them to DHs school do this is something that’s been on our minds, especially recently. Is there anyone with children currently in Winchester?

". . .but the OP didn't come on here for a kicking nor did Happygardening. . .Also, your talk of 'putting people in their proper place' is extremely snobbish; particularly since you have always stressed that you were a 'first-time buyer'"

Well, Motorcyclemptiness, thank you for your empathy referencing my health.

It's quite easy (for me) - when people ask for it, they get it, which is what I mean by putting people in their proper places. You might not see it but when dubious posters come on here and threaten me with expulsion or invent stories and accredited them to me, then they get called out.

I am confused; your post gives the impression you're an old-timer and yet you don't see the tons of discrepancies in HG's writings. Start by mentioning e.g. boarding life or schools or teaching or admin etc and she pops up to tell all and sundry she's had 35 years experiences in all those things. Then mention something else like, (whatever), and she comes along and says she/her other half, has had 30 years experience doing just that. Talk about the NHS, foreign workers and humanitarian work and she'd tell you she had met with almost every nationality that's represented in the United Nations in her 35 years humanitarian working experiences.

Simple arithmetic; how old is HG? . . . 95?

"Yes, Eton is a fabulous school, but not every child can or should attend it; there are alternatives."

Well, HG wouldn't even send her dog there if you'd asked her. And oh, everyone was a 'first-time buyer' once upon a time. I was one some 20 years ago. Not blessed with MN in those days and the internet was a luxury so I had to find my own way in total solitude.

I am sorry to hear that you have suffered from the dreaded Covid, Peternas, but the OP didn't come on here for a kicking nor did Happygardening. And Happy has spent a lot of her time over the past ten+ years offering her insights to Mnetters on school choices, based on her own experience both as an alumna, a parent and a teacher, unless I am mistaken? Yes, Eton is a fabulous school, but not every child can or should attend it; there are alternatives. Also, your talk of 'putting people in their proper place' is extremely snobbish; particularly since you have always stressed that you were a 'first-time buyer', when you have written about Eton over the years? I won't dare check this board after I post, as I am sure you will be back to flame me imminently. But the best of luck to you with your DS' choice, OP. And I pray that all our DC won't be enjoying distance learning for too much longer!

MyDucksArentInARow, while I'm sure the consultants you suggest can be of use to people unfamiliar with the U.K. independent school system, any parent who found it necessary to use them while their child was already attending a prep school would have to acknowledge that something had gone seriously wrong somewhere.

As if any head would recommend a student in Year 6 to go for Eton, Winchester... OR St Paul’s fgs. Anybody with even the most basic knowledge of SP would know that hardly anyone boards there these days. It’s a great school for Londoners if they can get in, but you wouldn’t exactly go there otherwise. Or is he suggesting your family up sticks and move? And if you’ve had another son go through this process with the same schools, you would surely know the ins-and-outs by now anyway.

You can’t compare London Day Schools such as SP with country boarding schools. It’s like comparing apples and pears. Totally different experience; totally different focus and different target audience - not to mention the fees.

Leaving aside all the stuff about Prime Ministers etc, Eton has been the most fantastic experience for my (scholarship-holding) son. I know boys at the other schools you mention, OP, and all I can say is that you and your son need to visit and try to work out which would be the best 'fit', rather than which is the best school. They are all spectacularly good. However, Eton is the school I would have invented for my DS, if I'd been creating a school especially for him.

Pp

And I agree with PO. Can't you apply for all of them or am I missing something?

Boris Johnson didn't exactly get to where he is today just because he's "privileged"
That is exactly where he got where he is today. Anyone less well-connected would have been out on their ear years ago.

Well, that escalated quickly...!

OP - St Paul's won't feel like a full boarding school, but it is amazing and full of great, bright kids. They think they have a grammar school vibe (from an insider on staff) but i think there is much more to it. Namely the fees!

Winchester and Eton both amazing boarding schools. You will get "types" in noth, doesn't mean your DS has to become one. I know some gorgeous kids in each.

Which sport does your DS like? take that into consideration. Both have great music depts. If that's your thing.

Westminster is only co-ed at sixth form. That is central london and wont have the grounds (obv) but you get the abbey and London. Decide if your DS would prefer space or cultural lively vibe.

Why not go for all 3 and see which one you get a feel for. If you have been advised he has a shot at scholarship go for it, someone has to get it. Of course they are competetive, but you can try.

Good luck.

@ChnandlerBong wow I missed the fact that the children have grown up and left the school already! Gosh that must have been awkward for the poor son at parent's events with his mum decked out in 'I LOVE ETON' paraphanalia.

peternas will brook no argument. makes me laugh every time that any parent can be so engrossed in their own child's academic career even now that child is a grown man. v entertaining

@Handfulofdust there is no bitter rivalry between schools. there may be bitter rivalry between select groups of parents with kids at (or formerly at) those schoolds but that is not the same.

@ChnandlerBong True I suppose if you're looking at the same schools you'd do your research the first time round. I'm new to this......I didn't realise children's schools were such a source of bitter rivalry. I just thought you selected the school best suited to the child and circumstance and pretty much get on with your life. How naive I was before reading this thread!

Gawd, Peternas really believes that her son’s school and achievements reflect on her somehow. Imagine how mortified he must’ve been when she rolled up on the 4th June braying like this. This thread is enough to recommend Harrow 😂

There's a very good service called St Peter's Tutors, they've recently rebranded to that name but I know the individuals running it. Rachel Huntley and Heather Cardy (schools placement consultant) have decades of experience in private education and boarding. They will help you match your DS to a good school, the ones you've listed and appropriate back ups. They can also help with the entrance exams.

fair point - but she was literally asking for the same comparison this time last year. So she already made this choice for a son who was 12 and then 11 in the same thread.

Just seems odd to ask exactly the same question a year later for a son who is in Y6 then Y5?

Surely if this decision was made for ds1 a year ago then OP is very familiar with all the schools and has been to see them all.