Winchester college, Eton and Harrow: Ethnically diverse ?

[Gunznroses]

My neighbour is considering these schools for her ds, their head has advised Winchester, but she is not sure just how ethnically diverse these schools actually are, she is black african if that helps.

I have a bit of exp of Harrow as a relative is already applying there and i went along for the open day, but know zilch about the other two.

We have visited all 3 schools in the last few months. If by ethnically diverse you mean, are there non white boys - then yes there are. If you mean are there many ,then no there are not. All UK boarding schools have high levels of interest from overseas parents particularly those based in the Far East but also West Africa, Russia, and the Middle East etc. Some of those parents will be expats, others will not and thus the diversity of those boys who live overseas out of term time will tend to be higher than those who are UK based. However, my feeling is all of the schools listed are ethnic blind , ie as long as you can afford the fees ( or qualify for a bursary) they are more than happy to consider any boy providing the academic standard, suitability to boarding etc is right. My DS is of mixed ethnicity and my DH is non white - both may have been in the minority on our school visits both from prospective parents/boys and current pupils but we have never felt it a problem.

Re Win Coll according to the recent ISI report a 1/5 come from families overseas half of whom are "foreign nationals". Also some "non white" children will not be foreign nationals but UK citizens. I am surprised and pleased at how ethnically diverse it is: significantly more diverse than my other DS's exclusively white middle class bar 2-3 comp.
The staff in the admission office are very helpful your friend should speak to them they probably have all the figures; I can't remember if we had to fill in one of those forms about ethnicity probably afterall everyone else asks you to complete one.

Im pretty sure Eton will be the similar she will get an idea from their ISI report. Frankly I would have thought this is the least of your friends problems all are oversubscribed and of course different.

I think the matter of ethnicity in the schools is actually a big matter. Bearing in mind her ds will also be boarding. I wouldnt want my DC to be the only black child in his yr never mind house, so its a key deciding factor.

We are aware that they these schools take lots of overseas children but wondered what the general reception is like. Unfortunately neighbour has heard through other parents that 'Winchester' in particular is not as ethnically frienly as the other two and hardly any black children there.

I know that this could be for plenty reasons! Affordability, academic ability as well as generous awareness about public schools amongst black folk, but i asked as there are some public school mums here who i felt may be able to shed some more light.

i live v near winchester and although my dcs went to state school the ethnic diversity locally is extremely low - think one mixed race family in the whole secondary school and only one asian family but a few white/thai mixed families

I live in rural Dorset and where we are, the Indie schools are far more ethnically diverse than the everyday population. They need to visit, although do check to see if there are open places or an open waiting list first!

Winchester college is more ethnically diverse than the state schools in the area!

Wiltshire is % non white
Southern Hampshire is about 5% non white
My kids comp is under 5% non white

BUT having been in east London today - I realised how non racist we are don here - we see the skin colour but do not make judgements thereon
www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528804.600-destroying-the-powerful-and-destructive-race-construct.html

I'm not prepared to completely out myself or my DS but In my DS's house, 60 boys, there is more than one black child there are also Chinese Iranians Rusians Germans Indians Koreans and others. I can't comment on the others houses but having having attended quite a few school functions and glanced at the list of boys surnames there appearsx to be quite a lot of foreign families.
We have 12 years experience in independent ed and Winchester is probably the most ethnically diverse school outside of Lobdon that my DS has attended.

It would amaze me if schools like the three named weren't ethnically mixed! They're looking for 'the best' as they see it, and I imagine they don't care what colour it's wrapped in! They can be as selective as they like so can choose DCs who fit the bill from all those whose parents can pay the fees.

I think you'd need to be more careful in some second rung private schools, actually; my friend has DSs in 'a leading private day school in' one of our 2 top university towns. She has said that the increasing numbers of ethnic Chinese boys in the school is upsetting the apple cart, because of ethnic differences. The parents absolutely will not get involved in any form of extra-curricular stuff; their boys are there to get As and nothing else. PTA? They quite angrily reject requests for assistance. Sport? Shouldn't they be doing Additional Maths? And so forth. The school has to accept these DSs as they need fee paying parents as they are surrounded by relative poverty. It is causing a degree of 'upset'; BUT the three named can be as selective as to avoid taking on the boys of families whose only aim is a string of As- they will demand a more rounded individual which would rule out a lot of the clever but single-issued of my friend's DSs' school.

I have also heard, anecdotally, that a certain quite well known girls boarding school is so full of Russians that the 'indigenous' DDs are feeling marginalised and parents are looking elsewhere.

Years ago when we went on an Eton tour there were families from a wide variety of countries I spoke to at least two African families and of course there were Chinese Indians Russians and others. These three schools apart and a few others most boarding schools are struggling to fill their vacancies and I suspect children are warmly welcomed what ever their nationality.

Thanks for all your comments. The best measure is always to see the school for oneself, so i'll encourage neighbour to make an appointment or go for an open day. They do all sound well rounded in that respect, the point about indigenous children starting to feel marginalised when oversubscribed with foreign nationals is also quite important, bonding with indigenous chidlren and full immersion in british culture is an important part of schooling here.

Hi, my son is in his final year at Wincoll and I can confirm that the school is quite a mix. I went to a state school in SE London and I'm not saying it is reaching these levels but there is one big plus for your neighbour. My son considers the boys from ethnic backgrounds to be harder working and higher achieving that those from white middle class backgrounds - I don't just mean the asian boys.This is very different to the expectations in my socially and ethnically mixed London school, where rightly or wrongly, teachers had very low expectations of Black African boys.
Other than noticing that the boys from Africa/China/Indian are often absurdly rich and hard working, I would say they are pretty colour/ethnically blind. They are more concerned whether they will fit into the house singing/football competitions, or whether they will be in chapel choir, or orchestra and whether they are interesting in div lessons.
I hope this helps.

Jerm123 - thank you very much for your input which is very informative. Neighbour im sure will be very pleased to hear, its always good to hear from people who actually have children there as they have a deeper insight into the school.