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Original poster

What's the girls equivalent of Eton & why?

400 replies

Dinaprettyballerina · 20/10/2022 13:23

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?

OP posts:
Kimya · 20/10/2022 19:03

Bramblejoos · 20/10/2022 19:01

Zara Tindall went to Gordonstoun

That's co-ed though isn't it.

SoundsOnMyPhone · 20/10/2022 19:07

@Allthegoodnamesarealreadytaken I can totally imagine that this is how it used to be and unless they have completely changed their ethos it won't have changed so much. I know a few women who went to Habs and they all have issues, mainly from comparing themselves with their peers at school and never ever feeling good enough. I have heard of one ex student who went on to become a doctor only to throw it all away a couple of weeks after becoming a junior doctor, her parents and the school just had her on a trajectory to medicine but she detested it and had a burn out. I could never send my dc to a school that was so high achieving and competitive it's so unhealthy mentally and physically as I'm not surprised about the ED. I also wouldn't like my offspring to have that air of confidence and superiority. I want them to do well on their terms.

Bunchymcbunchface · 20/10/2022 19:08

Isn’t it Roedean?

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

General education Secondary education
DobbyTheHouseElk · 20/10/2022 19:12

I would say Cheltenham, because the poshest of posh people knew when I was at school went there, usually with a brother at Eton.

But…as PP have said, there isn’t a female equivalent because girls weren’t educated in the same way.

I have personal experience of this. I was at a independent Prep school. When we got to a certain age, the boys went off to the senior school but the girls had no where to go. Because we were female the system didn’t educate girls in the same way. Looking around for my senior boarding school my parents found it had to find a decent school for me. Girls schools were an afterthought.

This was in the 1990’s and not in Victorian times!!

Thankfully this isn’t the case now. My DD will get the same educational opportunities as her male counterparts.

Popplebop · 20/10/2022 19:16

All the Etonian’s I knew (at university) had sisters who went to Benenden. At that point I had absolutely no idea what that was 🤷🏻‍♀️

Clarabella77 · 20/10/2022 19:16

I think the fact that no-one can immediately name the female equivalent of Eton in terms of powerful alumni highlights the problem with the elitism of Eton.

Bunnycat101 · 20/10/2022 19:18

I wonder if there has also been more of a reluctance to send girls away in the same way? There seem to be so many excellent day schools for girls now, I’m not sure why people would choose boarding whereas Eton, Winchester still have a certain reputation so I could see why people might see an added value.

IrisVersicolor · 20/10/2022 19:19

There are still loads of girls’ boarding schools.

DilemmaDelilah · 20/10/2022 19:19

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie went to St George's, Ascot.

Pipsquiggle · 20/10/2022 19:21

Allthegoodnamesarealreadytaken · 20/10/2022 17:50

So many things, bullying was routinely turned a blind eye too and so many teachers bullied the students too, there were 2 suicides of former pupils that you can see is just directly related to the sheer amount of shit that they went through there. I knew one of them very well.

absolutely no safe guarding, I know personally someone who was being abused at home, reported it to the teachers and nothing, I think they sided with her abuser actually.

i really stand firm in the fact that yes there are more opportunities in those schools but it’s not the environment or teaching that’s generating the better results, it’s the fact that you’ve sat and entrance exam so you’ve in effect ‘weeded out’ anyone who’d get a grade below a c (in old money)

Show quote history

@Allthegoodnamesarealreadytaken

Sorry you had to go through that. All of what you say echoes with what other girls / women have told me.

Super competitive / academic at any cost.

I have never met a 'balanced' girl / woman that has come out of Habs.

Sodullincomparison · 20/10/2022 19:23

Miss Porter’s in the States.

JustanotherBerkshiremum · 20/10/2022 19:23

No, Eugenie went to Marlborough.

Etonianmother · 20/10/2022 19:26

Most of the DC at my DC's prep school went to boarding schools at 13. The boys tended to go to Eton, Winchester and Radley (i.e. all single sex). The girls tended to go to Uppingham, Oundle, Cheltenham LC, Wells etc (i.e. all mixed schools, with the exception of CLC). The former boys' schools were much more popular with girls whose parents wanted them to board than CLC was, though. Roedean was regarded as a bit past its prime, so didn't get a look-in. A few girls went to the local GDST school.

Itisbetter · 20/10/2022 19:27

I’d say
Roedean
Cheltenham Ladies
St Mary’s
Benend n
Bit particularly the top two.

TheHonourableHonoriaGlossop · 20/10/2022 19:29

There isn't one.
what posters are forgetting on this thread is that the main public schools (Harrow, Rugby, Eton etc) have centuries of history behind them. Eton was founded in 1440 or something around there; over the centuries they have amassed wealth, traditions and fame.
CLC was founded in the 1850s, being the first boarding school for young ladies. What you have to remember is that the vast majority of genteel young women were educated at home by a governess, not at a school.

the highest profile girls' schools would, imo, be Beneden, CLC and Roedean.

not sure where a PP got the idea that Roedean has been taken over by Brighton College. It definitely hasn't. It took over MoHo in Eastbourne for a couple of terms then flogged it on - it definitely isn't a subsidiary of any other school.

AloysiusBear · 20/10/2022 19:32

Roedean
Benenden
Wycombe Abbey
Cheltenham Ladies
Downe House

That would be my start point....

Itisbetter · 20/10/2022 19:34

Just look at their alumni?

AloysiusBear · 20/10/2022 19:37

Also, boys i knew from Winchester had sisters at St Swithuns. Boys i knew from Sherborne had sisters at Sherborne girls.

JudgeJ · 20/10/2022 19:41

Eliannah · 20/10/2022 14:15

Only PM to ever go to a state school.

Show quote history

John Majpr went to a grammar school, not fee paying so technically a state school, he is I believe the only MP not to go to university.

TheHonourableHonoriaGlossop · 20/10/2022 19:47

StrychnineInTheSandwiches · 20/10/2022 15:21

I think generations of upper class British people must surely have been left with mental health issues, unresolved trauma, attachment disorder, etc. due to being bundled off to school at 7.

My dad is a Radleian. He clearly found his school days very upsetting as he will not talk about it, other than one single cross country run. He boarded from 8. It really fucked him up.
Hence I went to a day girls' school. Very cosy and homely. Sadly no longer

LadyLapsang · 20/10/2022 19:47

The Old Etonians I know have all been intelligent, charming and great colleagues.A few were King’s Scolars and they have sent their own DCs to state schools.

John Major went to Rutlish in Merton when it was still a grammar. It became a comprehensive in the 1970s and now has a mixed sixth form with Ricards Lodge.

JocelynBurnell · 20/10/2022 19:51

Avidreader69 · 20/10/2022 13:59

Truss went to Roundhay School in Leeds.

Truss claimed Roundhay School overlooked her 'potential'.

It's safe to say she now owes them an apology.

rainstorm101 · 20/10/2022 19:59

TheHonourableHonoriaGlossop · 20/10/2022 19:29

There isn't one.
what posters are forgetting on this thread is that the main public schools (Harrow, Rugby, Eton etc) have centuries of history behind them. Eton was founded in 1440 or something around there; over the centuries they have amassed wealth, traditions and fame.
CLC was founded in the 1850s, being the first boarding school for young ladies. What you have to remember is that the vast majority of genteel young women were educated at home by a governess, not at a school.

the highest profile girls' schools would, imo, be Beneden, CLC and Roedean.

not sure where a PP got the idea that Roedean has been taken over by Brighton College. It definitely hasn't. It took over MoHo in Eastbourne for a couple of terms then flogged it on - it definitely isn't a subsidiary of any other school.

This is an excellent post. Look at women for whom there are records - the Mitford sisters LONGED to go to school (well some of them) and were categorically not allowed. Or diary of a provincial lady - she has a son at school and a French governess for her daughter. Jane eyre - the rich girl cousins stay at home, the boy is at school and Jane is shoved off to a charity institution.

When girls’ schools were formed they seemed to be a bit more ad hoc - if anyone has read Susannah at Boarding School it is a delightful tale of a Victorian boarding school. It does make it clear that school for girls is a sort of optional extra for a couple of terms, a naice collection of ladies who have to learn to embroider etc.

LadyLapsang · 20/10/2022 20:00

@JudgeJ Alan Johnson, who rose to Secretary of State in a number of departments, was orphaned at 13 and looked after by his 16 year-old sister. He left grammar school at 15 to work in a supermarket and became a postman. I think he furthered his studies later through the trade union movement.

IrisVersicolor · 20/10/2022 20:01

TheHonourableHonoriaGlossop · 20/10/2022 19:29

There isn't one.
what posters are forgetting on this thread is that the main public schools (Harrow, Rugby, Eton etc) have centuries of history behind them. Eton was founded in 1440 or something around there; over the centuries they have amassed wealth, traditions and fame.
CLC was founded in the 1850s, being the first boarding school for young ladies. What you have to remember is that the vast majority of genteel young women were educated at home by a governess, not at a school.

the highest profile girls' schools would, imo, be Beneden, CLC and Roedean.

not sure where a PP got the idea that Roedean has been taken over by Brighton College. It definitely hasn't. It took over MoHo in Eastbourne for a couple of terms then flogged it on - it definitely isn't a subsidiary of any other school.

You’re giving it a different interpretation than the OP though. She just wanted to know which has a similar social and academic cachet and thus a reputation for pushy parents, overseas parents & a desire to get a child in at ‘all costs’.

Posters aren’t ‘forgetting’ their histories, they’re just not directly relevant to the OP.