Tatler on state schools

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Have you seen this

I'm wondering what the point of it is, but the fact that it exists is interesting.

Stella I was actually past 49 when DD2 started secondary so I am more than familar with that particular demographic trend. The point I was making was that I am pretty sure we are talking about a high readership amongst the 60+, their traditional readers, otherwise they would have split out 45-55, 55-65 etc but they haven't because they want advertisers to think their demographic is younger, more fashion and body conscious etc to attract the luxury brands. Adverts aimed at the grey pound, for cruises etc. are going to switch off the teens. What they want is aspirational stuff. They have a bit of a challenge to get the teens to stay with them and become a long term readership whilst pleasing their traditional readers who could probably be termed "old snobs". So they are keeping the "social stuff" as their Editor terms it but moving towards including more "fun and glamour". Obviously the grubby world of catchments and selection tests isn't really that milieu so this is just a sideshow to get their name into people's minds.

Well at 46 I'm not far behind you ancients and I still have a child of junior school age. Having just re-read the Tatler article, the introductory paragraph does make quite a lot of sense - why would you spend £1.2 million before tax educating 2 children privately if you can access excellent state schools instead? Of course, the article hightlights yet again that not all state schools are the same and some are much more user-friendly to the middle classes than others (no matter how many people on here pretend otherwise).

Well I'm 42 and expecting dc4 at the moment so I'll be 54 when she goes to secondary school. We're in Sussex with some excellent schools around here. Mind you, we used to live in the NW and both Trafford and Stockport had some of the best primaries in the country. And north Cheshire certainly has tattler sized house prices! Hardly representative.

Yes but Clav I think we are in the same area, do you really think anyone will be applying to Tiffin who wouldn't have done otherwise because they saw it listed in a fairly random and limited list of schools in Tatler based on gossip and innuendo? I really don't think you can take such a pathetic attempt at a guide as evidence of the middle class project to access the best state schools. It is far more well planned and the sources of knowledge employed far better than that

If they were serious they would have gone to a lot more trouble and would have some sort of vaguely objective criteria for inclusion as indeed they do for their private schools guide which includes far more objective information on 125 private schools and 114 preps (still could do better but at least a good try )

Ok. I will have to out myself as an occasional Tatler buyer!!!! They cover teen parties and publish an annual Tatler schools guide of preps and senior schools. Schools do put the fact they are a "Tatler" school on their webiste. Not sure it makes much difference to anyone but they also have an awards evening and yes, the Head Teachers do go to it! So I guess it does mean something to the schools themselves to be on the list.

Shootingatpigeons thanks! That's an interesting explanation.

Google 'Tatler guide to state schools' and there are pages and pages of links to other newspapers covering the fact that they have published this 'guide'* , and school boasting and lording themselves up for being in it.

So as a medai stunt it seems to have worked.

Or maybe it is the Editor softening staff up for a pay cut? Next month will be 'Austerity Haute Cuisine: European delicacies in the delivery-slot-free sector. Tatler guide to Lidl's best'.

*surely their use of the word for that crappy article is against the trade descriptions act, if anyone buys the mag to obtain this 'guide'?

Milly As in an annual jamboree for Boarding School Heads and pupils (who might just be the target?).

From the Independent, sorry lost the link

"Tatler got off to a cracking start of term on Monday with its annual schools awards ceremony, a lavish bash held at Claridge's.

Scooping the gong for best prep-school head was Patrick Mattar, headmaster of Norland Place in Holland Park. The judges' decision must have come as a happy surprise to Tatler editor Catherine Ostler and her husband, Albert Read, the head of Condé Nast – they're parents at the school."

Yes, a little further south than you Shooting, but roughly the same area.
I don't think the Tatler article is any better/worse researched than any other journalistic offering about education (The Daily Telegraph included) but I do know some parents that might be rubbing their hands with glee after reading an article such as this.

Shootingatpigeons thank you for that snippet, it made me laugh out loud. V funny.

Rubbing shoulders with George Osborne's children who also went to Norland Place.

I am laughing hard at that extract from the Independent, Shootingatpigeons, says it all......

Independent schooling is rapidly becoming a bit of an irrelevance in some parts of the country as the quality is surprisingly variable. Just because you pay for it, does not mean there are guarantees (I think there should be, actually. I think some parents are completely ripped off). Twice I pulled DCs out of fee paying schools because of poor teaching - in one case I sent DD to Honeywell instead as their standards were a lot higher than a local independent prep school that used unqualified, rookie teachers to save money whilst bleating on about standards. That sort of bollocks gets my goat.

And the handbag clutching you describe - well people need to get a grip and develop their social circles a bit more so they aren't so precious. Olden days independent schools of the type I attended actively promoted this kind of mixing. That seems to have gone out of the window during the last 15-20 years. Independent schools should therefore not be surprised if they lose their charitable status, if their idea of social engagement is letting outsiders pay market rates to use their swimming pool once a week or something. That's just window dressing.

And the Claridges things - well, what planet are they all on???? FFS.

Thank god our local rural outstanding primary wasn't featured. There's enough parents moving from London and going to appeal to get their kids in, taking the place then moving to private in year 3 when they realise their child is no longer speaking RP as it is.

I agree, Boffinmum!
We pay but I can't be doing with the 'must register from birth and pass the parents interview with the HT' brigade. In terms of preprep, many of the best on the country actually only require you to register the autumn before reception entry.
We have moved around a lot with DHs job and we have not always opted for the independent option as some, quite frankly, have been shockingly poor. It has been very clear that these schools are for parents looking for social elitism rather than anything else.

Yes, but social elitism in what way??
I can understand wanting to have some like minded parents to rub along with during your children's school journeys, but one of the schools we ended up using was full of people who were a bit bloody nouveaux in the main (realise that sounded a bit snobby). Pulled a DC out of that one too.

CaroBeaner, you may well laff but I have considered writing an eBook to that effect to follow on from Austerity Housekeeping - covering the middle class downsizing from Norland to AP, Merc to Vauxhall, that kind of thing.

Well, I was looking for like minded parents with the same attitude to education not a bunch of other women whose dH's were also city lawyers/bankers and whose children were being brought up with no concept of how privileged they were. We saw a few schools like this and they just aren't for me. DH may well do the school run in his 1k+ suit but I do it in my fleece and 10yr old jeans.

I also agree boffinnmum, on upmarket glossy indy preps, ...beginning to think some of them are more lifestyle /social mix choices than educational ones ....teaching standards can be patchy...and worrying when some parents pay top dollar for the indy and feel they have to pay for tutoring on top to plug gaps in the basics.

I would find it extraordinary if anyone actually took the Tatler article seriously. For example, in the case I have the local knowledge of, I have no doubt Coleridge is a good school, but to suggest it is superior, rather than equal to, to a number of other schools in Crouch End is just a silly claim, and will no doubt lead to mockery...

I don't think one is meant to take anything in Tatler seriously, surely?
The Tatler Good School Guide (i.e. the fee-paying version) is just an excuse for child-based fashion shoots, isn't it? (mainly RL and other preppy labels etc)

Boffin- I could never switch to a vauxhall- like driving a tank! To a Skoda, no problem.

There have always been snob shops, it is sadly a niche in the Independent market. The one in our city was seriously called Tinakori Towers, or by most people locally, Tincan Towers. Nice hats, shame about the education.

That isn't to say that there aren't other Prep schools that do a good job meeting parental need for a good education, especially in areas where there is a massive shortage of primary school places. Around here unless you live 300m from an inclusive state primary school or at the very least sit in a church pew every Sunday for three years to meet faith selection criteria (and quite possibly baptise by six months AND clean the church silver) you'll find yourself one of hundreds of families without a school place. Not surprisingly the proportion in private schools is way above the national average.

However the tutoring thing is more to do with parental anxiety and competition, it goes on in all independent schools around here, however good. It has nothing to do with education or the requirements of selective secondaries.

Our catchment secondary is on the list and I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. Yes the results are good but that is only because the school 'recommends' that pupils are externally tutored if they aren't performing and the pastoral care is crap.

Must admit that I picked it up of the shelf in Waitrose when I saw it on the cover and had a quick read.

Was somewhat surprised to see my old school in there as quite frankly the results aren't as good as they should really be for a selective school in a pretty MC area with whacking premiums on houses in catchment.

My DS's go to one of the schools mentioned. We think it's a great school but not sure the average Tatler reader would think so.