What's the girls equivalent of Eton & why?

[Dinaprettyballerina]

Just out of interest which English girls school is the one all sharp elbowed parents are trying to get their girls into? Eton has a reputation for having the pushiest parents with alot of overseas parents who are extremely invested in getting the very best education & getting their child in at all costs.. what is the female equivalent?

Not at all.

Theresa May
Gordon Brown
John Major
Margaret Thatcher
James Callaghan
Harold Wilson
Edward Heath

all went to state schools.

Russian ogliarchs😜

In terms of its longevity I would say The Red Maids' School in Bristol. It's the oldest girls school in England and only in the last 20 years it's stopped offering boarding.

Yep me too.

It was always Roedean.
Demanded academic and sporting excellence, taught practical life skills and built on the principle that girls can do anything. Quite a radical school for its time. Did cater for future wives but those who could, did, look up alumni.
Gone now in all but name (taken over by Brighton College), killed off by disastrous head late 90s/early 2000s.

gogohmm

The difference is that posh girls schools prepare them to be the partners of movers and shakers rather than be the person in power.

Really? Can you enlarge on this? It certainly wasn’t the case at my daughter’s school?

Cheltenham ladies college would be my guess

Well, several OE’s I know seem to sort of wander the world and wrote a blog about it, often with some vaguely Christian overtone. Mostly those who have, by about 37 still failed to establish any sort of enduring functional relationship ( not uncommon). I presume the wandering is not funded by the blog. It’s not what I’d want for my son, but they seem happy enough.

Cheltenham college or roedean

Re Kirkcaldy HS/ G Brown. It is very much a comp and I do t even think is in the top 100 state schools in Scotland?

In his year they did an experiment of having a special stream of academic pupils who were pushed ahead. But it was short lived and is nothing like a grammar school!

Are we assuming that Eton is the ultimate combination of patrician and academic? It’s certainly strong as a combination but not the pinnacle of either. For smartness I’d rate Radley and Harrow higher because Eton nowadays is full of the DS of aspiring MC. And academically you’d have to put Westminster and Winchester higher, plus probably SPS, and there’ll be others. Eton gained the reputation for educating the future powerful because of its hereditary admissions, so whilst it always had clever scholars, the mainstream Oppidans were sons of the rich and/or powerful irrespective of intellect, hence the sense of educating a ruling class. There’s no girls’ version of that, because girls generally weren’t educated to lead until relatively recently (unless you count managing a large household staff, and that was taught in a very different type of school).
I don’t think there’s a direct equivalent for girls, but Wycombe Abbey is probably closest, perhaps followed by Downe House The other good parallel (but coed) is Marlborough, where the girls are reckoned to be the powerhouse of the school.
I imagine JRM’s daughters will be heading to St Mary’s Ascot which would be the nearest equivalent to Eton for Catholic girls, as well as very handy for brothers and boyfriends there.

The most snobby woman I ever met went to St Swithun's. Brother went to Eton. This was back in the 80s.

Yes, it's Wycombe Abbey. Many of the girls there have brothers at Eton. But, it only has about half the amount of students as Eton. It was founded only about 150 years ago- because people didn't like sending away their daughters.

It's roughly equivalent to Eton in price and attainment, but slightly cheaper. All the girls' schools are slightly cheaper than their male equivalents. People will still pay more for their sons' education than their daughters'.

Always think it's interesting on this site, actually. You get all these threads where people are fussing about getting their sons into top private schools. You don't get the same for the daughters. Never seen it commented on....

Only PM to ever go to a state school.

This is nonsense!!

I don’t think Liz Truss speaks like she went to public school at all!

I’d say St Paul’s or Wycombe Abbey as the Eton equivalent.

She made a big deal about all kinds of things. It doesn't mean what she said has any merit, as people have slowly realised. Those who weren't paying attention since she became an MP over a decade ago, mostly.

Who is JMR?

Nah, plenty (Brown, May, Wilson, Thatcher, Major, Callaghan, Heath) went to state school, but they were grammar. Truss was the first to go to a comprehensive.

Although this complicates matters.

No she failed the school.

Some of the grammars other PM and prominent politicians have gone to are now comprehensives.

To be a girl and to be leader you need to go to a grammar, or comprehensive in a well-heeled area. Otherwise you are just a supporting act.

It was Roedean when I was growing up.

Years ago I dated a very posh young man who said he couldn’t introduce me to his parents because they wanted him to marry ‘A St Paul’s Girl’, and I had gone to a lowly unheard of private school up north. We didn’t date for long.

To be a girl and to be leader you need to go to a grammar, or comprehensive in a well-heeled area. Otherwise you are just a supporting act.

says who?

The only person I know personally who went to Eton had sisters at Roedean.