CE exam for Eton

[Happypeeps11]

Hi, my DS has conditional place for Eton 2016. He currently attends a private school but which does not prepare for CE. Do I need to move him to a prep school? this would be sad as he is happy at current school. Any suggestions for alternatives please?

Fingers crossed for your DS 4happy although I'm absolutely positive that he won't need it . He will have the time of his life.

I have still got the recording of the message my DS left us, when he rang to let us know that his CE results were fine and he had got in! < sentimental >.

Awww, thx Indrid. We hope he will be happily in, but the wait is dull. He's at home for half term so we should find out together :/

Indrid just to say "Aww!"

How do you afford £30k+ fees per annum? Nosy question.

It is a nosy question Heels99!
Do be aware though, that Eton provides bursaries of varying amounts to one in five families ... and even then, those families have sincere need and struggle to make the percentage they are paying, it's all done very fairly with external Bursary assessments.

Well, heels, your question is nosy but I'm nosy too.

My DS left Eton four years ago and I can only give you a snapshot of the ten boys in his house/year. We parents got together in their final term for a dinner. We talked fairly freely (wine, emotion at our boys no longer being kids, the knowledge that most of us wouldn't meet again etc).

One boy was on a 100% bursary (brilliant musician).
One boy was on a 50% bursary.
One boy had aristocratic parents. I'd guess they were cash-strapped (it's expensive running a country house) but could fall back on selling the odd Rembrandt.
One boy's father was a self-made entrepreneur/multi-millionaire.
Two boys were having their fees paid by grandparents who had downsized with decent occupational pensions and could find £150,000 (over 5 years for an Eton education) from their house sales.
Two boys had "power parents" (both earning six figures in the City as lawyers/accountants/actuaries etc).
Two boys (inc mine) had parents who could borrow against the ridiculous house prices in the SE having bought their first flats in the !980's.

We never had a specific conversation about how we paid fees so I'm partly guessing but (being nosy) I gleaned the above from general conversation.

Even a 50% bursary still means £15k fees though doesn't it. I have dds so am just asking out of pure nosiness! I saw the cbbc programme and it did strike me that although many scholarships are given out, 10% off 30k still means a lot of fees to fiNd. I don't mean the boys shown in the programme who got full fee places. But you have to be falling into one of the categories grovel mentions to really afford it without crippling.

Well: he's in! Proud, delighted parents. Pass the champagne ...

Well done to your DS! I was sure he would be fine, but it's still a huge relief to know for certain.

Enjoy your housekeeping and tailoring visits, they are quite an experience, and will be your first view of the REAL Eton, if you are newcomers like us.

Many congrats to your ds, 4happy. That's fantastic news. He'll have a wonderful five years, and so will you as they make it fun for parents too.

Thanks everyone ... We are newcomers as parents - son first to go in either family - but we lived there for 13y as beaks ... Already know we are going to go to Eli for tailoring as he's my husband's favourite

Eli's great. My DS (now 22) met his best friend while they were both being kitted out at Welsh & Jefferies.

Aw, that's lovely Grovel! DH took his chum for his morning suit there when they were planning his chum's wedding, got his won too, and he's looked after DH as a beak, hence no reason not to head back with DS. Can't be doing with Tom Brown's as they've lost items before and not owned up to it including a purple paisley velvet smoking jacket of my DH's which got lost during a bulk lot of dry cleaning ... Wouldn't touch with a barge pole.
Do you mind me asking which house your son was in? DH (or I!) might have crossed paths with him ...

Well, you won't be needing much advice then 4happy . It might be interesting to see the view from the 'other side' though.

More W&J fans here too; it's almost impossible to get DH out of there!

Ha ha! Good old Eli.
And Indrid, it's going to be very odd on the other side ... For all of us. DS spent first ten years of his life living on the high at in one house or another ... Hope it's all he hopes it will be, being a 'big boy' as he called them generically for years.

I was not impressed with the Elms, I would choose a larger school such as the Dragon or Sommerfields, I know they are boarding, but I only hear fantastic things from them. The Elms is just an emotional roller coaster and if you have a bright child stay well away, that is from personal experience. Or I would look at Abberly Hall. Before i thought they all seemed 'large' prep schools, however larger prep schools can cater for the brighter end of the spectrum.