Documentary - Eton New Foundation Scholars

[pusspusslet]

Peeps,

On 18th and 19th March at 5.30pm on CBBC is a documentary ('The Most Famous School in the World' -- part of the 'My Life' series) following the three New Foundation Scholars at Eton at the start of the 2013 academic year.

Sounds very interesting!

The My Life programme must have been a dream for Eton as it promoted the Eton Foundation Scholarships to millions of children. There is no way that a school can send ambassators to every state primary in the land. The fact that this thread exists is promoting Eton. I feel that the documentary was a credit to the three boys, Eton and their families.

My only sadness is that Eton doesn't take girls. (My son would never cope in such an environment, but my duaghter might benefit, who knows?)

However it is clearly a great school which has produced many great people.

Bother, I missed the programme, will it be repeated?

The programme is on Iplayer

part 1

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03ywdgq/My_Life_Series_5_The_Most_Famous_School_in_the_WorldPart_1/

part 2

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03yzcn5/My_Life_Series_5_The_Most_Famous_School_in_the_World_Part_2/

What impressed you WasW?

Hmmm - must admit I was rather distracted by the extreme prettiness of the teaching staff....

ZeroSomeGameThingy

What do you think was petty? Where do you draw the line between pettiness and high expectations? It seemed a little odd making the children read out their grades in class, but then Eton is a highly selective school where all the children are capable of A+.

I thought Eton provided an almost university like existance for the boys. The children had to get up and get to lessons on time without parental input. They were completely responsible for their own homework and revising for exams.

I think zero made a typo. Anyway it would be interesting to know what she didn't like. Its impossible to assess quality of teaching from a couple of clips in one documentary.

I got the impression that the teachers were really hard working like any other school.

Pretty As in lush, stubbled, cool, handsome, quirky....

WasW I agree Enid Blyton (and Elinor Brent-Dyer) have a lot to answer for. I completely approve of the education on offer though.

ReallyTired A very dear ex-Etonian friend of mine used to say that the school provides "a very comprehensive education."

As with Oxbridge, there is far too much mystique about Eton, so any programme that demystifies the likes of Eton is a good thing. Apart from the obvious history, the quirky uniform and the brand, the fact it is full boarding and has superior facilities, the day to day experience of the boys portrayed on the program seems like many other top private day schools which have excellent teaching.

It's just a shame there is such a gap between those at Eton et al and the rest.It was a good program but I did feel it skirted over the fact that the vast maj of children who go are highly privileged(even the few scholarships would involve money bring spent on music,sport lessons etc)and vast sums of money are involved.

It's interesting to hear it doesn't micro manage and pressurise as much as was portrayed.Bearing that in mind I liked it as a school,bar the boarding(although the staff in the boarding houses were lovely) however I still think in this day and age it's outrageous that there is such a gap and where you go to school can have a huge impact on the rest of your life.

Contacts and school name should never give you advantages but they do.
Some may call it envy others may call it unfairness and it does happen.To pretend otherwise is disingenuous.

Would like to know what Eton contributes to the state sector bar giving 4 places a year to already quite advantaged children.

Just because a small percentage of the children going to Eton are on full scholarship does not mean the education system in England is not elitist and geared towards those who can pay

Finally got around to watching this, and thought they had put together a pretty good and accurate picture of Eton life. I enjoyed it

Retropear here are a couple of links about Eton's other public benefit projects, if you are interested. A drop in the ocean, of course...

www.etoncollege.com/ShowArticle.aspx?id=830

www.etoncollege.com/etononlineventures.aspx

I just watched the Eton programmes too. They were very nicely done for their child audience, not as pithy as the adult Harrow School series but a very good picture. The black boy (sorry to call him that but I cannot remember the separate names of the 3 boys on scholarships) was so bright, so lovely, so sparky, a typical Eton boy.

I really enjoyed the programme and so did DS(11). He enjoyed it a bit too much and wants to go Eton now so he can wear pinstripe trousers and tails every day. I don't think he's quite normal!

< have broken it to him that there's no way he's going to Eton>

Why not Taz?

You're too late for the CE route but if he's very clever you could try for a scholarship.....

(Think it's very much a place for boys who want to be there.)

Oh zero I'm a mean mother and have flat out said no to him for boarding anywhere. I would miss him too much! We're in Scotland and I have said to him that if he's still keen on boarding I'll consider letting him apply to Gordonstoun for their 6th form (I have a friend who did that and loved it). He's at a great independent school right now- he just wishes he could live there! - and the Eton programme appeared to be a brilliant extension of that to him.

Taz, don't tell your DS that Eton loves Scots. They've got a pipe band, they celebrate St Andrews day etc............

Dd really loved the programme and would love to go to boarding school I think. As I would have done when I was her age. All 3 boys seemed lovely and really mature for their age. The English teacher was quite hot!

And, Taz, it's quicker to get from Eton to Edinburgh (by plane) than from Gordonstoun (by car). Eton's next door to Heathrow. Of course you may live miles from Edinburgh.......