Independent schools and local accents?

[Mumoftwoboysxxx]

If you educate your DC privately and live outside the SE, does your child still speak with a local accent or does their school influence them not to?

I have recently watched quite a few independent schools’ virtual tours and videos on websites/ social media.
I cannot help but notice that everyone I have listened to speaks with no trace of a local accent. And the schools in question are in the Midlands and the NW!

Do the schools intentionally chose to only include these pupils in their videos who speak with a certain accent or does every child at the school speak like that?

I think they just speak like that tbh. This is even the case at famous privates in Scotland, no trace of local accent in the ones we've seen.

I went to an independent school, my sister did not. We speak totally differently and she has always said i am posh! I think once I got married I started speaking with more of a local accent though, as my DH had it and my kids went to the same school as my sister and sound like her. We weren't given elocution lessons or anything so I don't really know why I sound different.

More children from parents who have moved around/are better spoken. I doubt the school does anything to influence it.

@foxesandsquirrels

I think they just speak like that tbh. This is even the case at famous privates in Scotland, no trace of local accent in the ones we've seen.

Very posh Scots sometimes (often?) speak with an accent that sounds English to me.

There's a private school in my home town, it is very noticeable that all the local children lose their (very obvious) accent including those from rural areas where the accent is most obvious. I think it's not the school per se, but rather peer pressure from other pupils.

I don’t think peer pressure comes into it - you just acquire the accent of your environment. We have quite a transient international population at our school. Young American children Y2 and under “turn” British with their accent VERY quickly indeed. Older children take much longer to change their accent.

I went to a “posh” sixth form in the Midlands and lost my accent a lot but was still very Brummie when I went to University. I then lost it further whilst there and it’s totally gone since moving south.

Some of the 'poshest' people I know are from Inverness. They couldn't be more RP if they tried.

Yes, most people take on the accent of their peers don’t they? Like the American example. If an American couple moved to the UK you’d expect their child to have a British accent not an American one?

I think because private schools have wide catchment areas there is less of a unified accent than schools from a small local area.

@Sarahandduck18

I think because private schools have wide catchment areas there is less of a unified accent than schools from a small local area.

I don’t think accents are that specific though? You’d only be looking at a half hour drive in general, so still a ‘Yorkshire’ accent, for example.

My dd went to an independent school in the midlands until year 11 (summer 2020). She’s now at a grammar school which I thought may still be a bit posh but apparently not - she’s really chuffed that she’s lost her private school accent and now speaks brummie! Ds who’s been to grammar all through has never had a posh accent.

My DS has been at private school since he was three, now 12 = we live in Worcester, one parent local but privately educated usually quite RP unless "joining in with locals" and one parent from London and not an aitch in sight. DS just thought he had a local accent, but actually sounds incredibly posh and has just, through time at Scouts begun to realise his accent is far from local; not totally there is a bit of a West country lilt common to proper rural Worcestershire but nothing like the county town where he loves and goes to school.

Children pick up their accent from their parents, then their peers once they start school/childcare so I guess it depends on the school. If the majority of the staff and children have RP accents, because their parents do, then that is what they will pick up.

My best friend at school came from Manchester and had been at boarding school in Yorkshire until she joined in the sixth form. She most definitely had an accent, at least the way she pronounced her vowels, although she was surprised that we noticed because everyone at home thought she was from the south.

Dd does the have a regional accent (Yorkshire) but DS does.
Me and DH don’t really but DS always had even at Primary (State)

My kids went to state school and one doesn't sound anything like where they grew up, she sounds like me (Home Counties) whereas the other has a regional accent, go figure!

I agree - grown up DS has a very neutral accent while the rest of his family have strong Midlands accents. It wasn't a deliberate thing (no elocution lessons!) but definitely a case of spending lots of time with his private school peers and teachers who spoke the same.

interesting.
anyone else cringe when they hear themselves on voicemail etc.

We’re in Scotland. The private school kids here have Scottish accents that sound English to the untrained ear. But they are Scottish private school accents.

Children just assimilate the accent of their environment. My DC are at a private international school in Asia. All the kids speak in an American accent despite being from 80 plus nationalities. My DC were speaking in this accent and using Americanized vocabulary within about 4 weeks 🤷‍♂️

My independent school has a range of accents. There are very few pupils who sound posh - most have regional accents. Because we are in the middle of the midlands, some pupils have the more northern type of midland accent, and some have the more Birmingham type of accent. Within these there are different levels of broadness of accent ranging from barely noticeable to very broad. Our pupils are bussed in from miles around.

Thank you all for your replies. Certainly some food for thought.

Posh schools breed posh accents. Unavoidable. When I finished my (boarding) school, I was terribly plummy but once I re entered the real world , it mellowed ALOT. it’s now vaguely posh but not shockingly so. My ds is similarly developing a posh accent (he is at a major boarding school) but I expect that too will dull once he leaves and gets a proper job in the real world

Myself and one of my siblings went to private school, two others did not (one went to grammar one refused to go to private school) and me and sibling who went to private school have completely different and "posher" accents than our siblings!

Yes Dd definitely sounds posher than Dh and myself. Think it’s the teaching staff as much as classmates.

My daughter started private school in September and she sounds more ‘posh’ already. I went to private school and developed what my friend calls the university accent, northern but you can’t really tell where I come from.