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

Peter I'm not crying. I went there. And I'm not spending good money to allow my kids look like lord and lady bountiful 'teaching' kids in Africa (after all they aren't teachers they are kids) I'm spending good money funding kids to go to school to be taught by proper teachers there, not posh idiots with inflated senses of their own ability.

I would be crying though if I'd spent hundreds of thousands sending my kids to Eton and they didn't end up at Cambridge though.

"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."

You said "most state school kids" Most.

And bearing in mind that only 7% of kids go to independent schools and a vanishingly small % come from seriously disadvantaged backgrounds (I would like to say none, but I know somebody will then come up with one) I would be quite surprised if many independent school pupils were involved in the riots! And it would be incredibly shocking if they were. As it is shocking when you hear of the behaviour of, for example, the members of the Bullingdon Club. Or the behaviour of post exam pupils from independent schools in places like New Quay.

Bearing in mind that there are something like 3 million secondary school pupils in the UK, if "most" had rioted it would have been a lot more dramatic than it was.

Remember Peter included 'former' as well. So, basically everyone. It would have been a revolution.

It wouldn't, you know. A thin black line of Etonians would have stood between us and the abyss.

Just like at Waterloo? But surely it's been proved now that the 'won on the playing fields of Eton' thing is tosh since any fule kno Waterloo was actually won by Sharpe and Harper. Just like Trafalgar. And every other significant military or naval encounter that occurred in their lifetimes.

I wonder how Eton compares to kingscote (if we draw a veil over the whole 'fictional' thing).

ROTS, Oxbridge may be your God but don?t expect everybody to follow your religion. If you are happy to fund your kids to be taught by ?proper teachers? so that they can ultimately make that pilgrimage to Oxbridge to master Old Norse or something, and come out later to compete against the global world, then well and good. In the meantime, you and your kids will just have to make do and live your lives as directed by some posh idiots who?d gone to some idiotic schools.

Peter - your reading comprehension is a bit poor! The proper teachers comment was contrasting the professional teachers teaching at the schools funded by my DSs school and our parish, and your DS. Who is not a professional teacher. Not even a graduate.

Cambridge is not my god, and oxford is even less so, you are the one obsessed with Oxbridge. You mention it all the time.

And since you don't know what my job is, perhaps a little less of the 'living my life as directed by some posh idiots who went to idiotic schools' would be in order. You might find that you are living your life as directed by me.

But curlew, I don't see anything like 7% of those hauled up in court representing the proportion that is private school kids. Given there may be one or two individuals amongst the many hundreds/thousands but they certainly are not representative of the 7% private school kids.

Oh really ROTS? In an anonymous forum like MN and others, anyone can claim to be the Queen of Africa and had gone to Cambridge. But I've lived long enough to know otherwise and my life experiences don't allow me to accept anything other than cast iron proof. Similarly, my background dictates that one university is as good as the other especially when going to primary school was a problem for many people once upon a time.

Whilst I don't wish to piss on anyone's kids charity trips to Africa parade can I just point out that donatin the air fare to Oxfam will do far far far more good to 'jungle kids' without so much as a pencil than unqualified teenagers 'doing' Africa over their summer hols.

The problem is that many people on MN believe that they're anonymous but out themselves by naming specific schools, gender of DC in particular school years, university subjects etc. Some people on MN are discreet, others aren't bothered, but some believe erroneously that in a small world of top schools they haven't identified themselves or their DC. For those who do mind, they need to take care.

Quite. The DC who go to these schools and unis can recognise parents and therefore their DC too.

Although obvs that's not always a bad thing.

I was spotted talking about my kids' state primary

I am quite open about who I am, though.

It is almost certainly irrelevant that the two boys from Eton at my Oxford college in my year were well known for being Nice but Dim.

I recognised my next door neighbour on here recently. Never mentioned it to her and feel slightly embarrassed as she was being quite open about something which she wouldn't have (I think) if she hadn't thought she was anonymous.

For exactly the reasons you've mentioned, I wouldn't mention the school my DCs attend.

I enjoy it greatly when people have outed themselves by naming top schools, competitive courses, middling unis and allegedly top everything else, plus or minus an identifying feature and then think they're anonymous and can talk tosh. But then my world is cloistered I guess .

Drkag, enjoyed your thread. I admire your hope to give your super bright son a good start in life. I just wanted to say that there are many, many excellent schools that can do the job, especially if there is a supportive home environment.
If you want an elite academic education for him, Eton probably isn't the best as there are schools with greater focus on pure academics rather than building rounded characters. AFAIK, Eton would choose an above-average boy with verve and talent in music or sport over an Einstein with less 'fire' or interest in team activities.
I note the banter above regarding the nature of OEs. I find it amusing because, while a few boys will always be odious because they just are, or they've been reared to consider themselves a 'cut-above' because of their fine breeding or large wealth, the majority of Eton boys are lovely chaps and turn out able to socialise with all-comers (Prince Harry is a good example, clearly bright but not an intellectual), even the naturally shy ones. My B block (U6) son has friends across the social spectrum and he finds that the wealthy ones tend to be 'chip-free' and lacking in prejudice, in contrast to the widespread inverted snobbery of the media.

Prince Harry - bright? Really!!

Prince Harry bright?!