To think that all private schools DO NOT cheat at exams?

[IsItJustUsOrNot]

Firstly, hello all. Secondly, name changed. Thirdly, I'm not looking for all the usual anti or pro private education arguments or comments that we all already know and love. So here goes:

Some pupils at our Prep were given 'help' to pass their Common Entrance exams this year, whether they wanted it or not. After the exam sessions had finished and the papers collected in, some pupils were called back later the same day to do them again, rewrite them to neaten them up, shown where extra marks could be picked up and so on, or a whole paper was gone through before an exam. We are being told that this is only to help the pupils, there is nothing bad about it, they are not public exams and all Preps do it. Some of us are not convinced however, see it as cheating and, worse, that the children have been forced to cheat. Who is right?

All preps don't do it

It's enforced cheating. Sounds to me like the school were worried their teaching wasn't up to standard or that not enough pupils would get through and it would reflect badly on the school.

I think it's unusual. I mean, just think how many people know about if loads of kids did it. Maybe the school were desperate to get these kids into a prestigious senior school. Still not ok. The only instance of cheating I've seen was in gcse in a state school. One teacher actually slipping written answers to kids.

I have no direct experience but anyone who says that ALL schools do a particularly thing is most likely to be wrong as it's so presciptive.

Most maybe but I don't suppose it will take long for a poster who teaches in a prep school to come on and say their school doesn't do it.

My siblings and I have been at many private schools between us and it's never happened to us. Definitely not normal.

YANBU

I work at a private school and it's never happened at ours!!!!

I think there must be intense pressure on teachers in private schools to help pupils achieve their grades. It wouldn't surprise me at all if it was happening a lot all over the country.

I used to teach and I remember one boy saying his Maths teacher (who shouldn't have been in the room during his Maths GCSE exam) had leaned over and whispered the answer. When the boy wrote the answer down wrongly, the teacher whispered, "You fucking idiot, give me the pen" and he wrote it himself.

The boy passed his GCSE Maths though it was clear from work he did for me that he shouldn't have.

That was in a school where the results were shocking and I imagine there was a lot of pressure on the teachers to get the pupils through.

It's a bloody stupid thing to do and if it came to light at the senior school (such as by the children mentioning it) they could be asked to leave the senior school.

That would ruin the prep school far more quickly than s couple of children not getting into their first choice senior r school.

There was a thread in June about this

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_staffroom/2956290-Common-Entrance-CE-13-Exams-Independent-Prep-Schools-2017

It is exceedingly rare for this to happen (many posters on other thread say this). Not least because it wrecks the school's reputation if pupils regularly cannot perform to the level they appear to do.

It is obscene that private schools can masquerade as charities to dodge tax too.

I went to two private schools. Neither of them did anything like that which I would describe as blatant cheating.

Stuff like that could set children up for failure later on if they are pushed into programs they aren't ready for yet.

Common entrance is a silly made up exam so it doesn't matter tbh.

It is obscene that private schools can masquerade as charities to dodge tax too

Private school thread bingo!

Yes JacquesHammer, it had to happen! TeaCake5, thank you but let's keep to the question on this thread please - lots of threads already cover that valid point, or you could start a new one.

I heard of this happening at one school only recently, before that it wouldn't have even crossed my mind that this sort of thing was done. IMO it is very uncommon and it is not a what I would want for my DC

Never heard of that in the local prep schools.

It depends which schools the pupils are going onto after Common Entrance. Often, secondary schools set their own independent entrance exam, so passing Common Entrance in no way guarantees a place at any private secondary school.

Yanbu..... however! My ds2 crap up to age 13 academically, got less than 40% at common entrance. He got fantastic GCSEs ( at his senior school they didn't want him because of common entrance) and is doing brilliantly in rl. Now flourishing at uni.

So I'd say, it's not indicative as to what can happen academically in the future.

Not all private schools, probably just the shit ones.

"so passing Common Entrance in no way guarantees a place at any private secondary school"

Well it does if the school is using the conditional offer system.

hana32 It's enforced cheating
This

My thoughts exactly. How were the children meant to refuse to comply with what the HM or senior members of staff were telling them to do?

I think it probably happens.
I remember a girl at my uni who was as thick as mince, got a first, then next year a new library was built, named 'her surname'. Money can buy anything.

I work for a prep school - we'd never do that!

Are they worried about their future or results? It smacks of desperation.

arethereanyleftatall - We had a library issue too. The library was to be named after a former pupil. There was widespread support for this because it was deserved, not to do with money. After fundraising by families and former pupils, someone (with a relevant child at the school) came in with a very large donation and the original name and even name plate just disappeared. The change was never mentioned, there was no consultation, only the new nameplate put up and the large donor lauded.