State school outperforming Independent school students at Uni

[LippyPongStocking]

So this is old news- research from Cambridge in 2015:

https://www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/news/state-school-pupils-do-better-at-university-cambridge-assessment-research-confirms/

Has this trend continued? And now are recruiters finding that state school students make better employees, as the workplace is more reflective of of a state school environment (as the independent school child is used to far more support and handholding)?

I don’t need affirmation thanks. Do you?

I wanted my DD in a super-selective school. Not for academic results, I believe she would have had those anyway, but for her mental health and emotional development. I wanted her to feel “normal”. I wanted her to feel part of the gang, not “other.” I wanted teachers used to dealing with kids like her. Not over-awed. Not treating her like an adult when she wasn’t one.

If we had lived where a grammar school was accessible, that would have been great. Unfortunately, grammar schools in our area were abolished long ago.

Oh, you didn't seem to understand why parents would choose private schools and yet you know lots of 'jet set' families - why not ask them?

DD who went to private primary and moved onto state secondary which was much better pastorally and educationally, the parents who explained to me why they would never leave the private sector focused on either sports (DD did her sport out of school), music (our London borough has some amazing music opportunities), toilets (they imagined blocked toilets, no toilet seats, lack of loo roll), - yep DD experienced lack of loo roll but took paper in with her.

They are my kids friends not mine. People have their own agenda that’s fine. Personally don’t see it as worth it - why does that bother you?!

We didn't see it as worth it either but I am genuinely interested in other people's thinking. I transitioned easily from bog standard comp to elite university . Met DH at Uni. All our DC are high flyers who excelled across the board at our local state school . Now they are in same elite universities (thriving, for the comp dissenters) with their plummy accents, bemused by the same " I can't believe you didn't go to private school" as I was when I went all those years ago. We invested what we would have spent on prep plus senior boarding school fees in London flats for them. They can have those instead. Much better return on investment!

That said my Dd often has to eat her lunch with a spoon due to lack of cutlery- which prob wouldn’t be an issue at private ! 😀

Then why bother ranting on here about it? One woman's own agenda is another woman's waste of money?

@VincentVaguer please just shut up.

Re private vs state, the state schools locally were violent and frightening when I was a child and the private school I went to had a far wider range of subjects and better teaching than most of the state schools my friends went to (though not all). It's also a lottery getting into a state school and you get little choice, often having to travel and at risk on public transport and in streets to and from school. Of course, this depends on where you live, but it was the case where I lived in the 80s.

Well done you. Are you really interested? You sound as though you are done and dusted with schooling. Surprised you feel the need to show off about the privilege that you've bought your kids tbh.

Erm, no.

Mumsnet seems to have a huge proportion of super high flying rich parents who send their equally high achieving kids to the local 'bog standard comp' (ugh). It's really amazing.

I think you are triggered by people without expensive educations actually doing just fine Vincent.

No, as I'm aware that plenty of kids from good state schools do well. I'm laughing at the blatant showing off about buying flats as if that's not just as much privilege as a private education though!

Why are you so angry then? Spend your money as you wish - why do you care if others make different choices / think it’s a waste of money?

Because some posters on here were asking why people do it (although they clearly weren't actually interested)

“More chance the teachers will vote Tory” 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

..Although I did say I felt I had failed at that (as private and state sector teachers and university lecturers are quite left wing, sadly, and do seem to have different politics from other people in the UK). Never mind. You can't have everything.
It looks like we have parents content with their choices on the thread which is fine - I was content to pay (I was asked why I paid and gave some of the reasons - I also paid so the 5 children have no student loans too by the way which again I know loads of parents even those who could pay would disagree with me over.... Last of those payments was last year when the last children finished their last exams)

I am glad I live in a UK where we can all be different eg choose home schooling like the Queen was educated and many others or fundamentalist religions state or private schools or day or boarding or strict schools or selective schools or you don't have to go to lessons schools like Summerhill etc.

I have had a vast array of choices in private and state sector here in London (unlike the NE where I am from which does not even have any grammars) so am glad I moved here.

Threads on MN about what do you spent your money on if you earn £100k a year are always popular and this thread is a bit similar because one woman who earns a lot (or whose husband does) might choose to buy XYZ, another might spend just about nothing and save and anotehr might spend money but on things another woman might not conceive is worth the money. Again we are all different - something socialism tends to want to spoil to make us all the same communist drones living identical lives. Vote Conservative.

It's almost as if all state schools are different and all private schools are different, isn't it? Excellence and total nonsense in both sectors - depends where you live and what your available options are. Amazing that those who claim to have been to Oxbridge and all sorts of self-proclaimed 'high fliers' seem to still be struggling to grasp basic reality.

This is unreadable, but I dont agree anyway - obviously the smaller the class size the better I know individual students, the more individual work I see during the lesson, the more individual feedback a student gets, the bigger an influence the understanding and performance of individuals have on the direction the lesson takes, and on planning for the next lesson

I teach groups between 2- 120 the smaller groups being in extra help sessions arranged at lunch time, normally for around 5 students, the big groups, being when lack of teachers means throwing a whole year group into the sports hall with one teacher, and the premises staff patrolling and monitoring behaviour.

and every size in between

The smaller the class, the faster the average student progresses, in my experience

I would have sent my children to state secondary but the school that my dd would have been offered was single sex. I wanted both children (she has a younger brother) to go to the same school and I fervently believe in mixed education so I sent them to a mixed private school.

We lived near an outstanding state primary (I ended up being one of the governors) which was our first choice but neither state or standard private schools in the uk could provide the language classes we required for DT’s to continue to be fully trilingual. They went to a London based international school from ages 4-18.

A mixed sex school was also non negotiable for us as we don’t agree with single sex schooling.

Thanks for your candour and depth of explanation @Xenia and others. I am simply interested in how people rationalise their choices and I absolutely don't judge choice of schools. I am the first to recognise that we were lucky to have a good state provision virtually on our doorstep and also to have the choice of which way to go. If we had thought private school were worth it for our circumstances, we wouldn't have hesitated.

I do find the observations about Oxbridge et al DC from comps/non-selective private schools struggling with superstar syndrome a bit silly. If the DC are smart enough to get into those institutions, they are smart enough to know that they will be one of a crowd of smart DC. Similarly, the vast majority of the recipients of contextual university offers must be more than capable of working out the mores of the workplace, given that they have already impressed enough to be selected to work there.

I have a broad range of friends from very different social backgrounds and cultures, never mind just schools, from my student days and believe that has enriched my life immensely. I always tell my own DC that life is more interesting if you keep an open mind.

The issue is not understanding the variations between and within groups of schools. It's the prejudice around it all that I struggle to comprehend. People sniping and making assumptions about others just because they come from a different type of school or background. It makes no sense.