Queen Ethelburga's Harrogate anyone?

[TessTing]

We just had another prospectus brought home from DD's state primary for QE. The idea is quite appealing but not within our budget. It seems very expensive but mentions possibility of discounts through various bursary's and scholarships. Does anyone have any experience of this? Is the school to be recommended? (middle and high school age)

What about the Harrow School Foundation?

Slightly analogous may be? Two or three schools, different results issued. I accept it is not identical. Some state schools have split sites don't they?

Laurabridges
John Lyon School is a day school, Harrow is a boarding school : the fact that they have an umbrella foundation is by the by
kids are not educated mixed up till exam year and then sorted between the two as would appear to be the case elsewhere

The Harrow School Foundation has two schools in the UK - Harrow School and John Lyon School. They don't share a middle school, students don't move between them, they don't (AFAIK) share buildings or staff. They appear to share some governors, but the boards of governors seem to be independent (from what I can see).

The sets of Aske schools also mostly seem to act independently of each other in terms of buildings, staff and governors. Pupils can't transfer between those that are in pairs as they are single sex schools.

The split between these examples appear to me to be more pronounced than that between the QE College and Faculty.

However I think that the QE Faculty does offer something that isn't widely available in the UK (vocational qualifications at an independent boarding school) and I really think that is a good thing.

So to summarise some of the points so far that have not been identified as potentially defamatory:

Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate makes statements that sound philanthropic or charitable whilst masking its true commercial status behind a web of entities ultimately owned by an anonymous British Virgin Islands company.

The separation of Queen Ethelburga's College from The Faculty of Queen Ethelburga's appears to have less substance than any other pair of institutions whose results are separated in published league tables. This has the effect that the College's place in those league tables is higher than it would have been if the apparant substance of the College and Faculty as forming one educational entity were reflected.

Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate sometimes chooses not to respond publicly to public criticism but instead writes intimidating letters using terms that mask the truth to private individuals instructing them to withdraw their comments.

The Harrow foundation further covers Harrow Hong Kong , Harrow Bangkok and Harrow Beijing

I'm gutted this thread dropped off my active threads - I've missed about 100 posts! It's interesting that the view from parents is that it's a nurturing school rather than academic yet the school itself doesn't market itself as such. Surely it would be more popular if advertised as an inclusive school with great facilities? That would also get rid of the main issue that people have with the school in their advertising.

Breatheslowly, Bede's school in Sussex offer vocational and traditional subjects at sixth form. You can take a combination of the two if you like. They do not split the results or split the sixth form. There may be other schools which offer vocational subjects but I only know of this school as DS went there.

I clicked on this thread because I was surprised to see 12 pages of QE thread still standing and haven't a clue if it is a good school or not? Personally I'm not a fan of run-for-profit, privately owned independent schools.

Bedes sounds like a more interesting place
but I still wonder why people pay that much out of after tax income for what is covered in their taxes

TalkinginPeace, there's all sorts of reasons why people pay for independent schools. We did so because DD was having a rotten time at her state senior school and there were no other state options available to us. We offered DS the choice of schools because we didn't want him to feel we favoured his sister. Of course everyone's different, that's just our story.
We have experience of poor independent and state schools and I would certainly agree that it is not worth paying to go private if you have a viable state option.

Mutteroo
I was at private school : I have no ethical problem with it at all.
But I am gobsmacked how much some fee paying schools can get away with charging for less than amazing outcomes.

I know

People can't get their heads around it

If I say dd1 is predicted a B for maths gcse they are astonished

What do you pay for one friend asked me - MY dd is predicted 10 a*s and 4 As at the state comp

Private school parents get that a lot

I pay to be sure I have given dd the best possible chance of doing as well as she can WITHOUT hothousing PLUS national level sport and exemplary pastoral care

QE and one other school on MN insist on tackling anything slightly negative by throwing lawyers at it and telling MN they will use the libel laws against them if the posts/threads aren't removed. They are shooting themselves in the foot because people who might have sent their children there are put off because the the way that the schools are acting makes it look like they have something to hide regardless of whether they do or not.

^

This. I was immediately put off on the first page of this thread by the staggering number of posts that had been deleted. Having discovered that it is apparently as a result of direct threats by the school's lawyer I wouldn't touch this school with a bargepole.

so, are they going to take us to court for looking into their structure or not?

Was thinking about this today. How does trip advisor work? When people leave damning reviews of hotels? They don't get threatened with court action? Even in the states!

Craggy Presumably Trip Advisor for whom the online reviewing is an essential part of their business model have in place a robust legal apparatus that would deter a Small and Medium Enterprize (even if they had a legal case they could win ), and have reciprocal relationships with the bigger chains (they take bookings too). Also most hotels, especially chains have reasonably professional and intelligent marketing departments who understand that managing word of mouth through threats and intimidation is an own goal, not to mention a sense of perspective / humour. And they do get, and frequently use, right of reply.

I don't think that in any case any of us confused the threat of the hassle of a legal challenge with the threat of a sound legal case that we would lose, it's just even the threat of legal action hijacking your time and resources has to be weighed up against what you and others stand to gain from it. I have great respect for talkinpeaces stand on principal but not the time and resources to defend articulating what was manifest in the school's actions anyway. One of the funniest bits of the lawyers blurb was that they had not actually written what were clearly spoof letters!

Am I right in thinking that Mumsnet in the past have responded to this sort of thing by taking the whole thread down but have now decided to give posters a chance to stand by their words or make the decision to retract themselves? Either way I don't suppose it is reasonable to expect them to have in place the legal setup to deter people challenging what gets said now and again on a thread here or there.

Shooting
I only took a stand because my living is based around enforcing transparency and financial probity.
I'd much rather not have to totally destroy a username I've had for 8 years for the sake of a school I'd never heard of till I joined MN
but we shall see

i had a DD at QE, and she found, though she struggled with the boarding at times, the academic side of it was fantastic. Despite all the advertising, certain departments in the school were incredibly strong, and not just due to all the international students. I've only just seen this thread so I thought i'd comment, and if you are choosing a school, with QE you should look past all the advertising and foreign students, and see it for a school it really is with a fantastic family vibe among all the students and staff. I'm not saying choose QE, I just think parents should have a look around ti first and see what it truly stands for before making your decision. And before you ask, my DD when on full scholarship, which as there were no decent sixth forms in the area was truly a life saver.

Welcome to MN, trimum123.

That's interesting trimum - a friend's DD also went on a generous scholarship having achieved great GCSE results. By the end of year 12 she achieved one B and three Cs at AS level and was stopped from being able to do the A2s and made to transfer to a BTEC course for her last year. Friend wanted to move her but because of the scholarship contract wasn't able to leave the school! Obviously it is good that the school offers students the opportunity to do BTECs but it is terrible that they can force students to take on courses they don't want to.

Sorry to add to keeping this zombie thread going, I was just intrigued that trimum's experience was so different to that of my friend's DD.

friendface - That may just be because trimum is a mole from QE. They do that.

and helpfully bumped the thread . excellent

Trimum may be genuine & it would be wrong to presume they're a QE mole just because their comments are mainly positive. It could be said that those posting negative comments are also disingenuous? I'm not implying one way or the other, but I think it's only fair to accept Trimum's & everyone else's comments for what they are unless there's evidence to prove otherwise.

Trimim, I agree with the principle of looking around a school before making a decision for your child. DD loved the idea of QE & every time her pony mag arrived, we would get a fresh onslaught about going to a school where she could take her pony. It drove us crazy! But if we lived closer to QE, maybe we would have chosen this for DD? What would certainly put me off is not the negative comments made on threads such as these, but the apparent stance made by the school. It creates a 'no smoke without fire' atmosphere which I don't feel comfortable with. I would also be interested to know what triggers a move from the college to the facility & visa versa?

I know I am joining this thread late but I feel compelled to write my first ever comment. In 2011 we turned down a place for my son at St Aidan's Harrogate to go to Queen Ethelburga's (no scholarship). We have been nothing but impressed with the enthusiasm of the staff, teachers and admin staff alike, the facilities and the opportunities. Our son started at 11 coming from a a village primary school with only 9 in his year to now just completing his year 9 as Head Boy. All of his group are a credit to the school. Can I suggest people only comment once they have experienced QE's. We also had heard all the negative comments but ignored them and have been nothing but impressed. I highly recommend a chat with the staff and a tour before commenting.