Financial Times Top 1000 Schools

[Xenia]

398 of the top 1000 are independent
Of the top 100 schools 80 are private and 19 grammar. Only one is a comp but it is a partially selective comprehensive.

(England only)
My older children's schools are 5th, 24th and 35th, not too bad.
www.ft.com/schoolmap-2011
The % ho get A or A* is proper subjects is a good measure and the fact they give the position in 2009 and 2008 too so you can see if a school has just had a bizarre year.

I really do not agree that where you went to school will get you a better job. I have never come across this unless an old school friend got you a job, that is connections. It would never cross my mind to give somebody a job just because of where they went to school as that is more the parents impact. I would however respect somebody who went to a really rough school and managed to get a degree from Oxford. I would be more inclined to think they would work hard. Maybe inverse snobbery. As for the comment about the local tip, really!!

I AM back in 1975, when being quite slim and pretty were as important an assets to a gal as her 'A' level results.

Can someone answer my terminology questions above please?

And when you say there's no practical difference between a 1 class and 2.1 degree, do you mean that you and your kids got 2.1s?

"Well, excuse me for wanting to live in a society where people are recruited on the basis of merit rather than because of their accent and contacts. In this day and age that is no more acceptable than choosing someone because of the colour of their skin or their gender."

I agree.

'I really do not agree that where you went to school will get you a better job. '

I am in awe of such naivety.

I take it you didn't watch this?

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00yb5kv

or read this?

'When you look at the UK's top jobs, the statistics are grim. Only 7% of children are privately educated but more than half the top doctors went to private school. Seven in 10 judges and six in 10 barristers went to independent schools.'

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12339401

I could go on but it amazes me that some people don't know how bad things are.

I guess that's part of the problem right there.

That is the legal profession. How about the MDs in private firms? How many of these are privately educated? Not every child wants to be a barrister. I would like to see the statistics for the commercial world to see the statistics. I am sick of seeing statistics for doctors and the legal profession being portrayed as the only sucessful careers for people to choose from.

'Cameron, Clegg and Osborne all went to private schools with fees now higher than the average annual wage. Half the cabinet went to fee-paying schools - versus only 7% of the country - as did a third of all MPs.

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After falling steadily for decades, the number of public school MPs is on the rise once more, 20 of them from Eton alone - five more MPs than the previous Parliament.'

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12282505

can't access the table but maybe that is because my kids go to a state school

the only one of mine to sit national exams got 10A GCSE 6 A levels 3 A and 3A

You could NOT pay for a better education imo

bitsy I was even reading recently that most successful POP STARS are from private schools.

Hang on...

I did watch the BBC programme and found it very London-centric. I have lived in two other cities all my life, Birmingham and Manchester and can honestly say that the only place I encountered private school bias was at a small financial services company in a suburb, which was also extremely sexist and was not the type of place I wanted to continued to work for. I worked for one of the Big 3 accountancy in Birmingham and it was full of state school kids.

Here you go:

'A new survey into the heritage of modern musical acts has found that 60 per cent of acts in the charts today - attended public school - compared to just one per cent two decades ago. '

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1335880/Public-school-singers-pop-charts-60-acts-privately-educated.html

Agree about the pop stars. Daddy and Mommy helped with their vocal and music lessons plus probably go them the contacts. Not so many indie kids though, can't see the likes of Noel Gallagher or Bobby Gilespie at Eton!

Well, bitsy, the stats present a different picture.

Either you've been very lucky or you are blissfully oblivious to the reality.

Your experience is sadly not representative.

The programme was London centric because England is London centric.

If you look at the list of top schools again, you'll notice that the majority are in the south.

Glad I don't live in London then as my DCs would be doomed, doomed I say!

It is as much down to the individual to accept what they want out of life and the people around them to influence them. If I raised my DCs to think they were inferior to private school kids then they would be. If you think you can, you may. If you think you can't you definitely won't.

Well, I'm a northerner and beginning to despair about that. The cuts are going to affect us hardest and things are going to get worse. The north south divide is going to turn into an unbridgeable gulf

If you despair than the rest will. Quite proud as Brummie that the Blues beat Arsenel yesterday, against all the odds. Have faith and hope fivecandles!

'It is as much down to the individual to accept what they want out of life'

As in they should know their place?

With respect bitsy you come across as extremely naive.

'and the people around them to influence them'

Yep, that's part of the problem.

I recently phoned a parent of a bright student only to be told she quite admired him for going out all night!!

The influence of parents and peers isn't always malicious or even conscious but it's often incredibly damaging.

Not London-centric yesterday although the refs were clearly biased, an even greater victory. I expect my DCs to do what they want to do and will support them all the way.

How can this thread have warranted so many posts. It's DULL, who cares about league tables and who goes to what school. Live and let live and let's get on with our own parochial lives!

P.S. My son's at Eton!

OK I may be naive but you misinterpreted my comment. I certainly do not agree with knowing your place and have gone out of my way to prove this in life. Rather be naive but encourage my DCs to strive than to give up just because we do not live in London or want to be a top lawyer.

The problem is faith and hope don't get you into university or into jobs. A*s do.

I teach a lot of students who have no idea what sort of competition they're up against.

I make it a point of telling them but I really don't think some of them get it.

I expect a hell of a lot more from my own kids who are still in primary school in terms of organisation and hard work than I think has ever been expected of a lot of the students I teach who are 16+.

And I would say there's a direct relation to social class.

Mind you there's been some interesting stuff about Chinese kids recently.

can someone PLEASE forward me the FT list???
could you copy and paste it?

I think I was deliberatley misinterpreting you there bitsy.

My point is that in this world (when there are people like Xenia about) you can't trust that intelligence or even hard work will be enough to get you where you want to be.

You can't trust that it will turn out all right and that things are fair according to merit because the stats tell a different story.