Diversity in Independent Schools, SE London

[SlimSchadey]

Hello,

I have been going to open days at some SE London private primary schools that are meant to be very good. What I have noticed, above all, is that there seems to be no racial diversity at all -- all the students, teachers, administrators are white with a light smattering of SE Asians, perhaps. Do schools make an effort to enrol a diverse group of students and families? Is anyone else bothered by the idea of a school where essentially all the children are from the same type of background?

Catchment not catchpenny - darn spellchecker!

Just read most of the thread. Enjoying HG's posts no end and have come to the assumption that Elaine is considerably richer than all of us as she has plenty of money to buy all her produce from the local farm!

P.S That was a compliment HG as I am not smug or sarcastic! :)

Thanks for the compliment colleger I suspect many are so prejudiced towards those of us who educate our children privately that my humour was lost on them. They seemed to assume that it was all for real! Mind you really don't feel any guilt about my choices.

At the end of the day we are freeing up outstanding comps and grammar places so they can sit in their four bed houses and have their three holidays a year, whilst feeling so morally correct. We must give them some pleasure in life!

Careful colleger the anti independent schools brigade take themselves very seriously they feel very self righteous.

Colleger what an excellent comment, I shall remember that when someone comments on why our DC are at a private school. Thank you.

It's Friday night and even us posho's like a drink and a scrap!

ElaineReese, no one is saying diversity is crap or deceitful. What I am seeing is a lot of people, like myself, saying we wouldn't cross off a school because it wasn't diverse. We have other priorities.

Colleger, HG etc. don't ever feel you have to justify sending your kids to a private school. Let me share with you what keeps me awake at night. Where I live, I get to interact with many different nationalities. From what I can see these people (Indian, Chinese, Indonesian, Philippino and even Australian and NZ's) invest in their kids education very heavily, both in terms of time and money. I'm sure you see this yourself at your own schools. Most Asian countries have no welfare net and children support their parents and elders. For example, Singaporeans will give their parents 20% of their income (irrespective of how $ their parents are) every month. The parents move in with the son. Therefore they feel that investing in their kids is like investing in a pension. They will go without everything to do this. At the same time you have people like the Philippinos working as maids and sending money home to send their kids to private schools. My cleaner sends her 2 kids to an International School back home. It is their way out of poverty. I myself have worked as a headhunter in Asia and it is now very difficult to find a junior/ middle level job in Asia as a western expat e.g. programmer, systems analyst as degree level Indonesian's, Philippinos and Indians command 1/3 of the cost of a western expat and have the same, if not more qualifications and work very hard. Whilst this positive process happens in developing countries, we back in the UK squabble about public pensions being frozen (or cut), strike, have no textbooks and have 30 to a class. So whilst our kids are being dumbed down, their kids are being educated and invested in, our borders are wide open and they have a highly skilled workforce. I'll leave it to your imagination what that may mean for the future of our kids in terms of employment.

Worried? You should be.

Finally, I've seen many comments on this board about how people who send their kids to private schools are trying to give their kids an unfair advantage over others. By others, I presume you mean other Brits. Seriously, you guys are the least of my worries. If the government would only make education a priority and everyone in the UK was educated & trained to a decent level, we would be an extremely FORMIDABLE nation and believe me all of us would benefit from this. Our education system was once the most prestigious in the world. But now, we prefer to spend money on wars that have nothing to do with us and throw money down other peoples drains. Not only are our kids disgracefully un-catered for from the top, but we also have the poppies down below dragging any other poppies from reaching for the sun and getting above themselves.

So there you have it. I will send my kids to a private school and I won't apologize to anyone for it. I am scared for my kid's future. I am not posh, I am a northerner and I went to a state school. I do like a nice bottle of Pinot Noir though on a Friday night, but I will go without anything else to be able to send them to a good school.

Bravo!

Wow!

readinginamazement I couldn't agree more. At my DS2 school there are many Chinese/Indians/Africans etc as you say their parents see providing a fantastic education as the most important thing you can do for your children. You are also right to be worried these boys, they work hard and are very ambitious and will be competing for the same jobs as our DC. Forget that "old boy network" tosh that so many bleat on about these are the people after the top jobs.

Hear, hear Reading!

I am more of a lurker (probably just afraid of raising my head above the parapet), but I agree with everything she has posted. I send my children to private school, not just any private schools, but the best, most competitive they can get into because they will not be citizens of the UK, but of the world and their competition is being educated to a certain standard which I am very familiar with (having experienced it first-hand), and unfortunately the majority of schools (private and state) just are not good enough to compete.

Yes, I am concerned about my children being rounded individuals with open minds, but the schools I send them to have that in mind, but are principally there to educate them to world class standards instead of having them be a data point in a social experiment.

Interesting, Reading. My DDs are also at an international school, and DD1's closest friends are Korean, Indian, Israeli and Chinese (and I'm talking about where they're from, not their ethnicities - they're not British Indian/Chinese American etc). I suspect that this is because they are all quite "geeky" and academic girls and have the same interests, rather than anything cultural. DD2, in contrast, has only American or Canadian friends, but her school year seems less "mixed" than others, and the majority of children seem to be from across the pond!

I have no quarrel with people sending their children to the best school they see fit, but I can't bear the argument that private schools are full of 'average' people who have foregone holidays and new cars in favour of their child's education. The average salary in the UK is £24k. Most parents are not prioritising a holiday and a nice car over their kids' education, they are prioritising eating, heating and paying the rent. You have to have a decent income to send your kids to a private school, therefore it stands to reason that in a deprived area such as SE London, the school will not reflect the makeup of the local community.

I meant average household income not salary. A household with an income of £65K+ is in the top 10% of earners. OH and I live in an ex council flat in New Cross, but are still in the top 10% of earners nationally.

I think racial diversity matters less than socioecomic diversity in a school. We have attended toddler groups and viewed private schools which have been like the united nations but what always struck me was how similiar an outlook all the kids / parents had: upper/ middle class lifestyles, ambitions, expectations, regardless of their racial background.

Why does having diversity matter anyway? for me it's to understand a different outlook/ lifestyle/ ambitions/ expectations. IMO middle class people throughout the world tend to be very similar in all of the above so how it will help your dc if their school had lots of racially diverse middle class kids is debatable. My dc attend an inner city state primary in a deprived area and I can truly say I since have had my eyes opened to the lives of those who are the poorest in our society. On this forum it seems lots of us want our dc to become a doctor or lawyer etc attending a school which is truly diverse in terms of race and socioeconomic groups would be of huge benefits to those dc who will have to work with all sections of society in these careers.