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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to move DD from her nice independent school where she has a scholarship because her brother didn't get offered one?

999 replies

middleschoolmuddle · 07/02/2015 23:23

We are not rich but nor are we poor. The school have offered us a 16% bursary for DS - it's not enough.

Would it be mean to move DD to a state school at this stage (Y9)? Has anyone done this?

I can't think straight, my mind is whirring so I'd love some perspective from those of you that have managed to use the local 'good' state schools and pass up the rather nice (best in County) independent one.

OP posts:
middleschoolmuddle · 09/02/2015 22:54

if your son didn't even get a scholarship to the local independant I wouldn't even bother wasting time thinking of scholarships to Eton!

Need, I'm clinging to the hope that the reason he didn't get a scholarship is because his sister already has one (as suggested by a poster upthread).

He's not super bright but he is pretty bright and coming into his own nicely. Unlike his sister, he teaches himself things - he's into programming and want's to be an inventor :)

OP posts:
Rinoachicken · 09/02/2015 22:54

Been following this thread also.

My jaw has steadily been getting further and further to floor.

Eton now?

Shock speechless

middleschoolmuddle · 09/02/2015 22:58

The call to Eton wasn't this evening you berk .

And it is possible to pass the 11+ (a score of 303 is considered a pass and will gain you access to a number of grammar schools, just not the one that we are within reach of) and not get a place. He scored quite a lot higher than that but not high enough sadly.

Mum, I would miss him if he went to Eton, but then there are the long holidays.

OP posts:
bringmejoy2015 · 09/02/2015 23:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Toomanyexams · 09/02/2015 23:02

OP, are you serious? Is this all just to be clever and entertain us? C'mon, you can tell us! Time for bed. (Smile)

Good luck with it all.

ZeroFunDame · 09/02/2015 23:07

bringmejoy That was clear from the start ...

NeedAScarfForMyGiraffe · 09/02/2015 23:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SnowBells · 09/02/2015 23:11

Checks in.

Ehm... Hmm... Seriously Confused?

Checks out of this parallel universe...

middleschoolmuddle · 09/02/2015 23:26

I'm only half serious about the Eton thing although I did actually ring up. The lady I spoke to was so lovely (she asked if we had any priceless pieces of art) and had the good grace to laugh when I did.

Just for balance, DH has just got back from a concert at DD's school and he is gushing about how happy in her skin she was and what a confident performer she was and how she wowed folk by playing her piece from memory. I spent a lovely 20 minutes or so laying in bed next to her and listening about her day and DS1 only got a cursory goodnight. Although I did pop in and tell him that you all thought he was my favourite - that brought a smile to his face.

OP posts:
AShiningTiger · 09/02/2015 23:32

Op, after reading the whole thread in one go, I am certain that you are desperate to get a glimpse of that world you feel you have been denied access to. I feel for you for I, like mutters have seen it and tasted it, but unlike mutters I have done so from birth. let me tell you, and I wish you'd believe me: it is not worth what you are putting everyone through.

Floggingmolly · 09/02/2015 23:34

She asked if you had any priceless pieces of art?

AShiningTiger · 09/02/2015 23:34

Btw mutters your posts were the best thing here and more than made up for the marvellous bookI have not read tonight.

middleschoolmuddle · 09/02/2015 23:41

We are a pretty happy bunch AShining, honestly. DD told me about a conversation she had today with a boy whose family are buying a new yacht. He said to her 'it's only 56' and she said 'thousand, that's not bad', 'million' he replied. She said she felt a little bit embarrassed about the exchange (when I asked her). I told her not to worry and that I thought he meant it was 56 foot long - that made her laugh.

OP posts:
middleschoolmuddle · 09/02/2015 23:42

Yes, mutters your posts are fabulous, I'd love to have a drink with you.

OP posts:
ChippingInGluggingOn · 10/02/2015 00:12

I'd have thought he meant foot too!

56 million... Oh to have that kind of money.

Anyway, back to the real world. Had I known you were the absolute nutter Mum who thought commuting on the train with her youngest DC would be 'fun & bonding', I'd have known what I was dealing with from the beginning! Grin

I think it's just as well you didn't get that job.

Have you stopped looking at that school for dc3 on a daily basis yet Grin

It creases me up that you're an ex HOD.

HTG. LEAVE DD where she is, leave DS there for a year. Tell him to shape up. See what's what in a year. Everything could be different. Especially if you get a job or write the next 'in every school' teaching aide.

ChippingInGluggingOn · 10/02/2015 00:13

Decision made for you!

Now, let's all go out for a Wine

middleschoolmuddle · 10/02/2015 00:17

Cheers Wine Chipping and goodnight everyone.

OP posts:
ANewMein2015 · 10/02/2015 00:26

You're not the one with the girl that was going to move school just for GCSES and then again for 6th form as the 6th form wasn't good enough for the girl definitely going to Oxford ..... (Or if there another one...)

ElephantsAndMiasmas · 10/02/2015 02:10

This has been a proper treat hasn't it?

You don't want to teach because you want to see your kids (unlike everyone else of course, who hate theirs)

You don't take a job because your husband is "protective" of your CV (what does that mean exactly, when doing NOTHING is apparently better than doing anything at all?)

You think your kid will get into Eton when he can't even get a small scholarship for the local school

You think your kids are the only ones in the whole world who understand quality, and that without rolling lawns etc they will simply DIE

It's a shame, you know, because your kids sound bright and sweet. But what you're doing to them is making them think that private schooling has a value in and of itself. In other words, that EXPENSIVE things are better, just because they are. That free things that are available to everyone are less worthy, exactly because they are available to anyone. So if they can enjoy a state school where they have normal lunches without anyone playing the lute over them they must be worth less too, reduced to the level of those who don't "understand quality".

I went to a top university and have friends from all backgrounds (I'm state educated). The only advantages my privately educated friends appear to have are those that come from huge family wealth, on which they are able to fall back, or which can help them buy a house etc. I.e. not the results of their private education, but the thing that enabled it in the first place.

But then the reason many have needed to fall back on this money has been because they haven't all found good jobs, or started earning high wages, despite all their advantages and their insight into holiday homes... Some of them want to be writers or actors and don't NEED to pay rent because of parental support, so carry on trying ad infinitum. Some of them took too many drugs (because they are REALLY popular at private schools, where the kids can actually afford them in large amounts) and they lost all their motivation and just moved back home. I'm not saying this happens to all privately educated kids, of course, just that it happens to some of them like it happens to some state educated kids.

You're tying yourself in knots because you think if you can't privately educate your children, they will become snotty nosed low achievers who never even think about getting a job beyond their local town. I'm telling you now, their schools are not what will make this difference. You and your husband are obviously clever (in some ways at least!) and you will broaden their horizons, no doubt about it. Racking the family with worry and debt, and instilling your snobbery about private education into your children, really are the opposite of the gifts you want to give them.

There is a difference between raising aspirations, and making kids think that ONLY the best is good enough. What do you think will happen when one day they ask for "the best" and you have to tell them, no? If no sooner it will come at university when they want to live in the warm, pretty accommodation and - you sticking to your promise - tell them to busk until they have enough to live in the concrete block shack down the road. They won't understand it, how could they?

TheWordFactory · 10/02/2015 06:43

Gotta love your chutzpah OP.

You remind me of my Mum; she talked a nursery owner into giving me a free place and took two buses each miring to get me there.

Yarp · 10/02/2015 06:56

Is is terrific fodder for a film

YoullLikeItNotaLot · 10/02/2015 07:06

Agree completely with elephants

OP, you asked for people's backgrounds up thread. I provided mine. You didn't acknowledge it. Was that because it didn't fit with what you wanted to hear?

I've done fairly well with my life (not fabulously as I'm not that driven) despite being a 1st gen graduate, despite not having anyone who could direct/mentor me as a teenager, despite attending what at the time was one of the worst schools in the country. Despite calling my evening meal my tea.

I look at my children and know they can't possibly attend a school as bad as mine as they simply don't exist. They also have the benefit of 2 university educated parents who have professional jobs. I'm not unduly worried by what secondary school they go to as I believe so long as the basics are in place, they won't go too far wrong. I'm a living, breathing example of that.

I'm off to give a speech at an industry event today. My broad, regional accent and no-nonsense delivery style always go down well on a subject that can be dry and erm, pompous (sorry colleagues!). I embrace what I've got, rather than deny it. It works.

SuburbanRhonda · 10/02/2015 07:10

he is gushing about how happy in her skin she was and what a confident performer she was and how she wowed folk by playing her piece from memory

I expect that was true of every child who performed at the concert, OP.

AuntieStella · 10/02/2015 07:14

If the conversation about the yacht is remotely true, you need to get her out of that school asap. A rich oik is still an oik, and that emphasis on price is beyond vulgar.

Yarp · 10/02/2015 07:15

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