academic ability for eton

[drkag]

HI,

My son, who is only 6 currently, has decided that he wants to go to eton. Combination of reading young james bond and a friend's father. He is at a local prep school in SHeffield but we are by no means financially at the level of Eton. I am also wondering about the academic standards. He is bright, currently reading age 11+ and on a recent assessment by ed psych, due to problems at previous school, his IQ was recoreded as 158. I saw on here a sugegstion fo doing some bond assessment appers and for his age he finds these very easy.

I don;t want him getting his hopes up, do you think he would stand a reasonable chance of getting in. He also loves sport, and is on the LTA tennis performance program as well as playing rugby and cricket plus learning the trumpet so he is a good all rounder.

Thanks in advance

Bo Xilai's son who went to Harrow and Harvard under an assumed name
the son of the current chairman of the Communist party who has just finished UK public school
their daughter who is at Yale under an assumed name
and many more : as documented in some amusement by the Economist

Kim Jong Un was not at school in the west under that name
nor are the children of many Russian politicians

Ahhh . . . I see, they all went to all kinds of public schools and top universities under false names except ETON!

sorry, I named a very, very few who have been outed - from memory - there are dozens and dozens and your are darned complacent and rude to assume that because I cannot name 14 year olds who have not been outed, they do not exist.

Drkag, is there any other information that would be useful to you now? You have been reassured that your son has the potential to get into Eton (I suspect that you already knew this) as he would to any other superselective school. No-one can guarantee at this early stage that you would get a bursary as this is competitive and will depend on the ability and need of other applicants. If you wish to think about Eton at this early stage then, as others have suggested, looking round some other schools now and nearer year 6 would be helpful.
Eton, as peteneras parodies, rightly or wrongly has a certain socially superior reputation which may not necessarily be an advantage in future life but does deliver a superb all round education

You call me rude instead of thanking me for educating you. I guess you?ve never heard of words like libel and defamation, etc.

If you cannot name 14 year olds etc. etc. then please for your own sake, don?t tell the world, "Eton is (like other very expensive schools) happy to accept pupils under false names so that their parents at the top of the Chinese Communist party are not compromised". You could get into troubles beyond your imagination.

Op, no harm in following the path a while. Lots of parents of Etonians around to advise. Colleger springs to mind.

Is it wrong to educate the elite of other countries, even those with dodgy human rights? Or rather, isn't it an encouraging sign that the newly wealthy in these countries feel that the best possible education they can buy for their children is in the West. Might this not be a sign that in future these regimes could change for the better?

In fact I do remember the Economist being slightly mocking of Chinese parents who insisted on their children having a webcam trained on them while they worked so that they could watch them. However, I think that this quote, from a February edition of the Economist, more accurately sums up their feelings about British public schools.

"As their domestic difficulties grow, though, Britain?s private schools suck in ever more pupils from across the world. An influx of Chinese and Russian students has made staid boarding schools cosmopolitan. Half of Roedean?s intake comes from outside Britain. It requires pupils to learn Mandarin, to help Chinese newcomers feel welcome. Private schools are an under-acknowledged source of Britain?s reputation as a global hub and a device for projecting soft power. They could do with being a little more loved at home."

Incidentally, Eton have a policy of keeping their intake of overseas boys at 10% and not all of them are Chinese by any means. It would be wrong that all the Chinese boys are hugely rich either (although I'm not denying that some of they are). Two Chinese brothers in my son's house both receive bursaries.

I'm quite happy for people to criticise Eton, but I do prefer that criticism to be reasonably accurate. Just bandying the name of the Economist around doesn't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear of a point. Points like 'Have you seen some of the idiots that school has churned out?' hardly make for a stimulating debate either. At least the OP will get a taste of what is in store for him/her and his/her son if they do plump for Eton.

I'm only really bothering with this because it's too rainy to do gardening and I'm putting off cleaning the bathroom. Wealthy and privileged, my arse!

Thank you Indrid That's a rather helpful response. I'll have a look for the Economist article. I'm not keen on Eton threads - always far more rumour than fact....

OP Someone above said that if your Ds "passes" KS then everything is paid. This is not the case. Whether the poster meant passing as in doing well enough to be able to skip CE or as in actually being awarded a scholarship is unclear. But the KS on its own only confers a relatively small percentage reduction in fees. Anything beyond that would be from a means tested bursary. And most bursaries are awarded shortly after pre-assessment when the boy is about 11.

You will know this already but the date you need to keep in mind is when your Ds is 10 and a half. You must register before this, unless you are certain you will only be applying for KS.

Lots of clever all rounders don't "get into" this particular school. The boys who do are generally not just clever but talkative and fun to be with. The sort of boy who is a joy to teach and to coach on the sports field.

?One of the great things about Eton and other good schools is that they encourage the students to widen their horizons - meet, mix, socialise, work with people of every background.?

Very much so indeed. Two summers ago whilst most state school kids (and former ones) were busy looting, robbing, and burning down shops in cities throughout the UK and generally tearing Britain apart, DS found himself right in the middle of an African jungle in Tanzania.

No, he wasn?t there on a safari holiday or anything like that. Dodging crocodiles by day; evading lions by night and pestered by malarial mosquitoes day and night, he volunteered to be there for 6 weeks teaching jungle kids English and Maths. One hears of people from ?underprivileged backgrounds? in the UK needing outreach help to go to Oxbridge which actually makes my toes laugh. These Tanzanian children in the middle of nowhere didn?t even have access to a pencil, never mind about going to school.

The irony was that DS didn?t even have to spend a single minute in this hell but instead having a luxurious time mixing with top celebrities. Prior to him leaving for Africa, he was invited to travel to the other side of the world in East Asia to spend a few weeks as a guest of the family of a high-ranking politician, if not the highest ranking politician. He chose Africa!

If I remember correctly there were a number of high profile looters who attended private schools, including Charlie Gilmour.

Most of my son's state school friends are desperate to go on the school trip to Africa next year, which includes carrying out charity work of the nature you describe, but it costs £3000 so is beyond the reach of most. I expect they would choose it over a jaunt to a friend's home too, for altruistic reasons and also because they think it'd look good on their personal statement.

There's been a lot of nonsense about Eton on this thread, but now you're essentially making their argument for them.

Paternas- even by your standards, that's outrageous.

And I am sure that the "jungle kids" we're suitably grateful How lucky these people are to have 18 year olds from the developed world parachuted in for 6 weeks every summer to teach them everything thy know........

Beginning to wish i'd never opened this thread. Thanks for all the helpful comments, we're going to wait a few years then go and look around whilst continuing to encourage him in all he does. I think the overarching thing that comes over here is that as parents, we all strive to give our children the best with whatever we have but we shouldn't judge those who do different. I guess this has enlightened me to what he could expect if he did go to eton but having done some further research it would also give him some amazing opportunities. Maybe I am so desperate to give him tese opportunities as I am from an incredibly working class background, state educated and fought to get where I am in life, i just want it to be easier for him.

Drkag

Yes, probably best to wait awhile. But don't forget the jungle kids your DS will be uniquely placed to help if he attends Eton.

Seriously, Drkag- please ignore paternas- he is a bonkers eccentric regular poster.

I am sure your son will do well- the most important thing for a child is interested and supportive parents. Encourage him, don't rain on his parade, but remember he is 6 and needs to do 6 year old stuff as well as all the "older kid" stuff he does. Pretending to be Batman is as important to his development as trumpet and rugby practice!

Peter - do you think outreach might have helped your DS get into Oxbridge?

DS's school supports a school in Africa. Our parish supports a different school, in a diffeent African country. There are trips out to Both each year, I doubt my kids will ever go despite our family paying the fees for 3 kids at one if the schools, because the cost of a trip out there for one person is 100 times the monthly fee for all 3 kids So, better to spend the money on the fees rather than gadding around playing lady/lord bountiful, don't you think?

Oh, just send him to a normal school. He'll be perfectly well educated, and you'll save loads of money.

Drkrag, I totally identify with every word of your last post.

We paid our bill for school fees this morning and I felt so proud of myself for being able to do this for ds. He's not off to Eton, we live in Ireland and its a local independent school, but it's a huge deal for us.

I come from a working class background too and have worked like a dog to get to point where we can send him.

Presumably peteneras's toes don't laugh at the university summer school that Eton runs as it is, naturally, the best outreach course 'in the world'.

OP - weird thread in which the most pro-Eton poster has succeeded in being the most off-putting!

I wish you and your DS well, and best of luck with your Eton application, if that's how you decide to proceed.

Drkag, unfortunately it seems impossible to separate the amazing opportunities that Eton gives (mainly to a certain economic tranchant of society) from the brand Eton. In Europe and the States Eton is know as the school that royalty goes to and symbolises quaint British customs. In the Far East it seems to be revered. It is probably just trying to be the best school possible as well as conveying a sense of social responsibility to its entitled (mostly) pupils. It, as all selective private schools, does not have the monopoly on high achieving children. It is just a very large, well financed, well run educational establishment producing 260 boys per year who have had a privileged eductation. This large number of boys will include a significant minority (or their parents) who may be rather up themselves and therefore perptuate the view of "detached from society / arrogant" Eton.

britishsummer, Dh's cousin went and his mother was a nightmare about it.

Hey folks, let?s not get all worked up but read deeper into what I said and put things into their proper perspectives. I?ll start by re-quoting what was said by an earlier poster on this thread:

?One of the great things about Eton and other good schools is that they encourage the students to widen their horizons - meet, mix, socialise, work with people of every background?.

Very much so, I replied, and then went on to say what my DS did in Africa. In no way did my post imply only Eton does charitable work to the exclusion of all other schools. Look at the quote again, the key words are ?Eton and other good schools?! So yes, well done all you parents and kids from both state and indie schools alike who?d done charitable work.

It is good to remember that Charlie Gilmour did not take part in the 2011 summer riots of looting and wanton destruction (for absolutely no reasons) in the whole of the UK. He was only protesting in an earlier demonstration against the rise in tuition fees in one legitimate and official demonstration held in London, a cause I can well sympathise with but don?t approve of the damages he?d caused to some of the street furniture.

As regards outreach and Oxbridge in the UK, I laugh when I think of this question: What?s wrong with, for example, the likes of Warwick, or Leicester, or Kent or even London Metropolitan? You are crying over not being able to go to Oxford or Cambridge while I?m thinking of children that don?t even have pencils. Oh sorry, I forgot our Western lives are more precious and important than those jungle kids from Africa.

Well, I think I might start by c and p this from your post "Two summers ago whilst most state school kids (and former ones) were busy looting, robbing, and burning down shops in cities throughout the UK and generally tearing Britain apart, DS found himself right in the middle of an African jungle in Tanzania."

How are you going to try to weasel yourself out of "most state school kids"? Can't wait to see you try.

Well, they have now got a few hundred being hauled up in court and are still looking for many more hundreds. Name me those from indie/public schools.