Areas where state schools are better than private?

[Narrie]

Does anyone live in an area where the state schools are really better than the private ones? I picked this up elsewhere but am afraid to comment there.

I have lived and worked in the Midlands where there are few private schools to choose but the state schools are not very good. I have lived in Nottingham, where again I felt the state schools were poor.

Even in London there were some awful schools and private was best.

I currently live in Cornwall having got here working in Exeter, Plymouth and Barnstaple. None of the state schools were good there.

Just wondered where the good state provision is. Is it just odd schools within a mass of poor provision or are there really whole areas where state schools are better?

Thanks.

(PS I have my own DC in a boarding school partly because of the state schooling and partly because we move around so much)

[TheOriginalSteamingNit]

It's wine. Just wine. Do you not see?

[seeker]

"Of course I treat everyone well and I hope we all do"

In real life, presumably? Because you sure as hell don't on line.

[seeker]

Actually my ds, dismissed as "dregs", has fantastic shiny floppy posh boys hair. Do you think that will help him overcome his manifold disadvantages?

[boschy]

my female thicko dregs have lovely shiny hair too - maybe they'll marry 'up'? not sure if that is possible from a 'dire' secondary modern even though they do speak nicely innit (yours from Kent, GS area)

[TheOriginalSteamingNit]

My daughters are northern, the poor loves!

[boschy]

TOSN, do you mean it's the wine talking? in which case one could either be terribly forgiving, or think 'in vino veritas' depending on whether in charitable mood or not?

[TheOriginalSteamingNit]

I meant that Xenia said dregs was an inoffensive term because it refers to the nasty bits of wine. Which is apparently fine as a thing to say.

[rabbitstew]

Is it possible to treat someone well when you think they are a thicko dreg of society, or do your inner thought processes betray you through your actions? What does treating a dreg well look like? Presumably not at all the same as treating a fine wine well?

[themottledlizard]

I do hope everyone realises that the 'shiny hair' comes from previous threads where it was suggested by xenia it was an asset in 'Getting On In Certain Professions' by those educated in the private sector. Not sure if state schoolers are deemed to have shiny enough hair(rushes to inspect DCs' hair and whether they've washed it recently......) .

[boschy]

I was being facetious TOSN (obv failed miserably, must try harder to earn more money in order to send girls to private school so they can learn to be facetious more effectively)

[TheOriginalSteamingNit]

Ah, I just saw your theory on another thread that xenia's just had one too many tonight! I think she's depressingly in veritas all the live long though.....

[TheOriginalSteamingNit]

Live long day sorry!

[rabbitstew]

Having just had a very quick look back to find where Xenia referred to dregs, I can't believe anyone didn't pull her up on the fact that she seems to think that "creaming off" something leaves behind dregs. If you took the cream off the milk, it was my impression you were left behind with lots of lovely, fresh milk with less fat in it, which most people these days prefer to the cream, not the dregs at the bottom of a wine bottle. So why justify "dregs" by arguing that people talk about "creaming off" the best talent all the time???????

[rabbitstew]

These days it's hard to sell cream. Maybe we should cream off the best talent and then throw it away for being bad for everyone else's health?

[rabbitstew]

We could all go back to our healthy, paleolithic diets and lifestyles, then, without having all the "talent" pushing us further into the digital age. (maybe you have to have read the Eton thread for this to make sense....)

[TheOriginalSteamingNit]

Yay, and there would be no more MS!

[rabbitstew]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/education/1602658-So-Eton-everything-I-expected-and-more
for anyone interested in Xenia's views on diet and lifestyle.

[happygardening]

And let?s not forget this wonderful diet will also cure type 2 diabetes and prevent type 1 developing in children!!
Don?t know why those in the paleolithic era all died before 35!

[seeker]

Boschy and TOSN- my shiny floppy haired ds speaks very "southern nice". But he can speak Northern as well so he can fit in with his cousins. So, you girl owners, I'm taking sealed bids.........!

[TalkinPeace2]

Looking at my handy downloaded Data set of KS2 results from the DFEE,
none of the schools in Xenia's got in the 30's for 5+EM - the lowest was the sports college that got 43%
admittedly it got 0% ebacc, but clearly Xenia is using a data set other than the accurate government one.

[MordionAgenos]

@happy just proving my point even further. Please do carry on.

[boschy]

seeker I reckon I'm closer to you geographically than TOSN is, my 16 year old any good? loves reading, Robert Pattinson and all things Twilight, arguing about politics, acting, music (excellent taste!), is very soft-hearted and has the most gorgeous very shiny red hair...

[Arisbottle]

Xenia is talking offensive bollocks, I live and work in a grammar school area ,three of my children have been eligible for the grammar and only one went. Does that make the other 2 the dregs of society? I teach in a school in a grammar school area, every year we send students to Oxbridge as well as other top universities . Some of our students will be hairdressers, some will be mechanics others will be lawyers, politicians and medics.

[bucksfizzed]

This thread has kept me laughing, nodding, shouting but I'm going to pick my fave

"Do as I did. I take 2 weeks holiday a year. I have not even had a maternity leave (I used holiday) over the last 28 years of being a mother. Not surprisingly I can afford school fees. We reap what we sow"

Fast fwd 20 odd years, and (as in my case), your dd may have jacked in her successful career, after attending a top RG uni, to be with her dc because she will have an entirely different understanding of what exactly has been 'reaped'. It's a very common story.

But hey, so long as they fly to the top eh? anything less wouldn't be a good return on investment

[Mominatrix]

bucksfizzed, it also helps the child if the parent (mum in this case) employs him/her to boost her career. Nepotism is another aspect of the priviledge Xenia believes in.