to wonder why David Cameron is sending his daughter to a state secondary school?

[sexonthebeach]

He went to Eton and his wife went to an exclusive private school. Both have done brilliantly well, so why are they sending their daughter to a state school, particularly as most London state schools are apparently a bit rough.

On the one hand, I applaud them, as they are showing support for the state sector, and of course the standards should be sufficiently high that no parent should feel they have to spend £££s on opting out. On the other hand, are they just using their child for their political agenda.

Miriam Clegg has also made similar comments ie that their DC will not be educated privately, as why would you pay so much for the privilege of your DC to take their maths exam in a tailcoat? For some reason, Miriam comes over as more sincere, but I still can't help wondering if this is part of the Cleggs' political agenda, given that Nick went to a top 'public school'. Miriam, not being British, probably can't understand why the Brits want to send their kids away to boarding school, in any event, instead of bringing them up yourself - it seems to be something peculiarly British, going back centuries to the days when the noble families would send their children to the households of other noble families to be brought up.

Anyway, I've digressed. Do you think the Camerons are being responsible parents or being unreasonable to use their child to further their political agenda?

I don't think it's really anyone's business. Good parents will do what is best for their children. I actually found Diane Abbott's decision far less hypocritical than those parents who move into catchment areas, tutor their children for entrance exams, or play the Faith game, then loudly bray about how they'd never consider anything but State education

really they are damned if they do and damned if they don't though aren't they?

However it is probably very valid to say that they will do well whatever because of their money, connections etc.

Abbott is worse IMHO because let's face it she wants to prevent your children having what hers had doesn't she?

It is however good that they are looking at a school that does Latin it will allow Nancy to continue with the languages she has already started (google tells me she attended St Mary Abbots Church of England School in Kensington. Which certainly included Latin when I last looked (curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to see how her school compared to my children's on paper!!)

As far as Brown goes again maybe he was just using his dc's in the same way? Maybe it would have been truer if they had attended a Church of Scotland school in London (maybe a bit tricky) his oldest was only there for a year or two then they moved up to Scotland and I guess could do what so many do and insure they used money to be in the catchment that ticked their boxes!

Of course I have no idea what their thoughts were!

Oh and as others have said Clegg's is going to the Oratory (the same school Blair used) google will tell you just how 'bog standard' it is!

*What drives me insane is they nearly all play the faith card, thereby perpetuating the ridiculous system where to attend the best state schools you need to be (or pretend to be) religious. Meaning this ridiculous system will never end as the politicians prop it up.

Gordon Brown, to his huge credit, despite being a genuine churchy type who could have actually used that get-out-of-jail card, actually sent his kids to the nearest state primary to Downing Street, not church, very mixed intake. Good for him*

The faith card? Genuine churchy (sic) type?

I cannot believe you are trying to stereotype a Christian as a churchy type.

Do mosquey types also exist?

Clarinet - I dont think there are any Church of Scotland schools in Scotland, so might be hard to find one in England.

Meg lol
should have googled

so do they have Church of England ones then!!!!!!!

(I really will go and google)

www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/Schools/FAQs

How many denominational schools are there?
Scotland has 370 state-funded faith schools - 366 Catholic, one Jewish and three Episcopalian. These schools play an important part in education in Scotland. We believe it's important for parents and pupils to have the choice to attend a faith school, if they want to.

So almost all faith schools in Scotland are Catholic.

OK I am deep in the Scottish Episcopalian church, Jacobite rebellion and the old and young pretender now

I may be some time

You beat me to it

wiki says pretty much the same thing

A few weeks ago I was trying to remember how William and Mary fitted in and now I do!

those parents who move into catchment areas, tutor their children for entrance exams, or play the Faith game, then loudly bray about how they'd never consider anything but State education

Yes, because obviously nobody with any educational standards just sends their kids locally.

(PS that was irony too, for anyone who thought I was being serious .)

I'm still taking issue with the initial idea that they've both 'done brilliantly well', anyway. I mean, obviously being prime minister is doing pretty well but it's not really a representative sort of 'doing well' as only a fairly small number of people get to do it. He went to Oxford but then so did loads of us who didn't to private schools. SamCam has a degree in fine art (don't know the class) and designs handbags. I believe she is quite good at designing handbags so that is probably a plus if you think it's important to be good at designing handbags. Also she married a man who then became prime minister but again that's not a career path which has many opportunities.

I can see that if I wanted my daughters to marry really rich blokes I'd probably be better off sending them to a different sort of school, certainly.

Well, David and Sam Cam's choice of school will be commented on in the press and on MN wherever they chose to send their daughter. It's not a surprising choice though. It's v close to Downing Street for a start.

It's not exactly your average "good local secondary". Grey Coat Hospital may be a state funded school, but it's selective (entrance test, constant CoE church attendance and priest reference), single sex, and highly socially exclusive, based on the SW1 postcode, relationship with WestminsterAbbey and proximity to parliament.

For all we know she might have sat the tests for St Paul's Girl's, City of London Girls, Frances Holland etc (the usual suspect private day girls schools in the area) and failed the tests and this is where her parents social connections got her in.

"Do mosquey types also exist?"

If there were state funded Muslim faith schools they would!

Abbott may have been hypocritical but i respect her personal reasons, she has stated that the typical outcomes for a black male teen at many comps were extremely worrying and she didnt want to take the risk. Would have done the same in her shoes.

Yet she seeks to prevent others from having the same advantage.

Genuine question (because I am a bit dim and don't really understand the whole Diane Abbot thing) but how is Abbot preventing other people from having the same advantage?
I know she was staunchly against private schools and then sent her son to one at the age of 11 and tried vehemently to defend those decisions, but how does her decision prevent others from having the same advantage? She isn't stopping anybody else from sending their children private. She has never been in charge of the country (thank goodness). She isn't in charge of private school fees, the cost of living or the level of wages. She isn't the education minister (I don't know if she used to be but perhaps somebody can tell me). So how is she personally preventing others from having the same advantage as her own son?

I don't like Dianne Abbot as I think she has been a huge ass in the past but I don't see her decision on schooling for her son as anything other than a parenting decision. Surely we are all entitled to change our opinions if we feel our original opinion is not in the best interest of our child?

"those parents who move into catchment areas, tutor their children for entrance exams, or play the Faith game, then loudly bray about how they'd never consider anything but State education "

I have never actually met anyone like this. Has anyone else or is it another Mumsnet archetype?

And I hold no brief for Diane Abbot, but I don't think she is trying to stop anyone else doing what she did, is she?

Hak I have met lots of people who have tutored their children for entrance exams and a few who have moved into good catchment areas as soon as their children are born or before they start pre school. They don't say anything negative about private schools though.

Very few state schools have entrance exams.

But if you live in a grammar school area then quite a lot of the schools have entrance exams. I think some areas just sit one exam to cover all possible grammar schools but other areas like Trafford have individual exams for each grammar school. So if somebody lives in a grammar school area they are going to know a lot more people who go down the route of tutoring than people in non grammar areas. In trafford some people move into the catchment of the grammars and still pay for tutoring.

Taking half a sentence of my post out of context and using it to make an irrelevant point makes that point confusing, Mothersuperior - I'm struggling to understand what education standards have to do with the hypocrisy of parents who manipulate the state system, then condemn those who choose to use private schools.

Hakluyt, as a parent with children in both sectors, yes I have heard - and been lectured by - such parents. I'm surprised you haven't - some of them are indeed on MN, but they exist elsewhere, too.

I don't like the word 'braying' but I certainly know people who are very self-righteous about the fact that they would never send their kids to a private school and I think 'well yes but you've been able to move into the catchment of one of the best state schools in the country and most people don't have that option....'
(I've moved deliberately moved into the catchment of a good school too but I don't believe there's a moral difference between doing that and paying for private.)

Please remember that Sam Cam is the far richer and better connected out of that couple.
I'm surprised that she is considering state because its never been a big thing in her family.