Why would anyone consider going to Rugby school better than the mixed local comp?

[Charis2]

I read this article in the standard earleir, and just thought what is this headmaster on? Why is this scholarship presented as such a huge honour for the boy, when in fact it is a way of the school paying to improve its results by taking in some of the best sixth form students without fees.

What "lifechanging" opportunities does he expect he can offer, which Hassenbrook acadamy can't?

www.standard.co.uk/news/london/needs-pic-teenage-footballer-wins-70000-scholarship-to-boarding-school-that-invented-rugby-a2953791.html

Headmaster Peter Green said he hoped Michael and other Arnold Foundation scholars would have a “ripple effect” on their communities when they return home.

He said: “We might be able to be transformative and transform their lives. Then when they go to university, and after, they can start to transform their own local communities. It’s not about parachuting someone out of that. We want to keep their association with where they are from.”

What a snob. Does he think the staff at Hassenbrook only teach poor peoples maths and physics, and the maths at Rugby is somehow a better class of maths? perhaps he thinks the laws of physics perform better there too?

I hope this lad has fun, but I don't think for a moment his life is going to be in any way better because he spent two years mixing with rich snobs rather than normal people.

Charis why don't you ask him ? Write him an email, do it today!

surprisingly enough, he has totally ignored my email,

but I sent the same email to the Evening Standard, who published it in their letter page today.

I was shipped off to an a!l girls boarding school when I was 11 and I absolutely hated all of the 7 years I was there.
Well, hated the studies but liked the girls I shared with and got into all sorts of mischief with. Ended up with 3 A levels but had my first baby just after.
Being kept in that claustrophobic all female enclave didn't bode well with me. I wanted to live. Great disappointment to my Parents and they had to pay all my fees.

The tiny minority from the private sector have the majority of the powerful positions and a disproportionate amount of the extremely high end salary jobs in the country. That's a pretty compelling difference in outcome.

My dd is in a very similar position. It's only a few weeks into y7 and yet the huge gap between what's available to her there and the average comp, let alone a bad one, is huge. Yeah she may well be there to boost grades but that takes nothing away from the massive advantage it's already giving her, let alone the long term possibilities. Assuming all private schools are full of rich snobs is just a prime example of reverse snobbery and the green eyed monster.

Don't get me wrong, it does suck that the system works that way. The only advantage of private should be the nice extras such as physical surroundings, not the basic education. Yet that will never happen while we persist in the myth the average comp gets the best from every child, and that they meet the needs of all. They don't at all. And many of us don't have access to average comps, let alone good. So in the meantime, if you can't beat them, join them.

No problem op, if you ever get the chance for a free place at a top school for your dc, just turn it down.

you haven't given a single example of any sort of advantage. What opportunity do you think exists in an independent school that doesn't exist in the state sector?

What opportunity do you think exists in an independent school that doesn't exist in the state sector?

In this city, not a single comprehensive offers Music at A Level. So there's an answer: "the opportunity to study Music to A2".

The same applies, pretty much, for German.

Let's not even start on Latin and Greek.

Further maths is only available in a minority of comprehensive sixth forms.

So there you are: opportunities that exist in independent schools in this city but not in state schools would include "doing Music at university", "doing German at university", "doing classics other than ab initio at university" and, for more than half of the schools, "doing maths at university".

Did you have a point to make, or were you just yelling?

Why does this anger you so much?

Also, do you think no "normal people" go to or send their children to Rugby? Honest question meant seriously.

the comments made by the headmaster are typical comments any CEO would make to the press. all CEO's promote their companies and yes educational institutions are companies.

Bolograph explained very well what the school can offer that the local comp cant. not yet mentioned but often discussed is the opportunity to meet others who hopefully will do well in life. Private schools are also able to expel students that do not fit the school ethos.
i'm sure there are many but my son in law received a very good scholarship and is in the position of giving back financially to his local community where he has strong ties, and remains a strong advocate of the importance of education.
it is very likely this young fellow would have done well regardless of the school he chose.
charis, one of the characteristics of successful people is a positive attitude. i'm sad to say but you seem very negative about a very bland article that doesn't deserve an elevated blood pressure.

i*n this city, not a single comprehensive offers Music at A Level. So there's an answer: "the opportunity to study Music to A2".

The same applies, pretty much, for German.

Let's not even start on Latin and Greek.

Further maths is only available in a minority of comprehensive sixth forms*

well, in the comp I was working in yesterday, ( inner city London comp, deprived area) I am not sure in German is offered or not. But certainly German is offered at many Comps. This comp though offer music, Latin, Greek further maths mandarin, Russian etc

( never known a school that doesn't offer further maths)

My Dcs comp offers Music, German, Latin, Arabic, Mandarin, Russian, Further maths, among many other subjests.

Which city doesn't offer music in the state sector?

So no, I don't for one second believe the subjects offered at state school are a smaller range than those offered at private school.

It is also not uncommon at state school for reciprocal arrangements between six forms, allowing for students to have a time table that allows them to attend more than one school, so they have a wider range of subjects to choose from, or combination of subjects if there is a clash between two subjects they wish to take.

Furthermore, Most offer the IB as an alternative anyway.

So, Bolograph, you are absolutly wrong in your assumption on what opportunities the local comps offer. Completely wrong, and many private schools don't offer those subjects anyway.

But thank you at least for making a suggestion, no one else can, it seems

Most state schools do not offer the IB - their own website lists 57 state schools that offer it in the entire country - out of 3,268 in total.

What was the point of asking if you're going to say you know better anyway?

Private schools have an awful lot more money with which to educate their pupils than do comprehensive schools. That translates into more opportunities for privately educated pupils. Disputing that is a bit odd IMO.

In my local authority only one comp offers Latin and Russian, funnily enough it's the one in the area with the highest house prices...

No Greek anywhere.

German only offered at a handful as well.

local to us
Private school offers Latin, Greek, Russian & Chinese. State offers none of these.
Private school has all the facilities for all the sports (or facilitates it locally) on site and they have at least 2 afternoons of sport a week. State school has a few hrs a week of football & netbAll.
Private school has 20 children to a class with teacher + teaching assistant in early years. State school has 30.
Private school has clubs & societies that widen the child's education. I've not seen these offered beyond duke of Edinburgh at our local schools.
The exam results are just way above & beyond what the state schools achieve. From talking to friends so is the expectation of what the child will achieve.
If there are state schools near me that offer even just the languages and extra curricular stuff I'd be fighting to get a place but from what I e seen so far they don't come anywhere near.

My dh's school didn't offer Further Maths. In fact he didn't even know it existed until he got to Cambridge to do engineering and discovered pretty much everyone had it but him.

A lot of the independent schools simply have more money (obviously)

In my local prep school yr 2 and up use IPads for most lessons, as does the secondary independant school (for approx half the subjects)

There are no iPads in any state school I know but I'm sure someone will come on to say there are in theirs

When DD was researching sixth forms we found one (State, comprehensive) that didn't do that really rare and exotic subject RE beyond AS Level.
That must have been really frustrating for the teacher - only being allowed to do half the job.

I feel incredibly sorry for lots of teachers, tbh. Especially teachers of MFL - the curriculum for GCSE is absolutely bonkers.

Name one

Small class sizes - more individual attention
My A level results could not have been better - OK, maybe they would have been the same at the local comp, hard to prove either way
The opportunity not to get beaten up in the playground (which was happening to my brother every day at the local comp)

The sports facilities at rugby are good,and our club use the facilities ( as a charity status they need to hire their facilities) no other local comp has the facilities to hire out - within a 25 mile radius

The 2012 Olympics was heavily medaled with British medals from ex public school students.

Milfield has a 50 meter pool - there are only a hand full of 50 meter pools on the country for swimmers to compete and rarely do comps even have a swimming pool.

Furthermore, Most offer the IB as an alternative anyway.

Most comprehensives offer the iB?

I don't believe you've ever been in a school.

What a rant!

Other than all the facilities, small class sizes, additional subjects and extra-curricular activities listed above; Rugby will also give the boy contacts that the comp simply can't.

Former pupils will offer internships for example. The old school tie network in this country is alive and well. You may not like it and it's very unfair but it's true.

I should respond to this the read in two years' time as DD3 is on a similar scholarship although at an all girls school.

She chose to apply to the school as it went against my socialist principles and even on the taster days she said the difference between her good comp and the private school were incredible. The teaching was inspiring, no level of disruption tolerated in class.

Now she's there she appears to be flying, her loudly expressed opinions are being channeled into public speaking, there are societies for the arts, sciences, a business is run by the lower VI, theatre trips etc. She's always been an enthusiastic child but this has exceeded all expectations.

I can only compare her experience to my less academic DD1 who took her A levels at the comp, she was not one to take full advantage of opportunities offered, so I'm not sure quite what there was, but looking at the public school I'm sure she would have come out a more rounded, confident person with better grades. DD2, who is dyslexic would also have benefitted as this school is non selective and offers a whole range of options for the girls.

DD3 has yet to meet any snobs and has already made good friends. It was what she wanted and I felt that I should not stop her. I'm still against private education, and all that it stands for, but whilst it is a part of this country my stopping my child from attending would only have been to her detriment (and no doubt lasting and loudly expressed resentment).

Best you don't put any more vinegar on that enormous chip on your shoulder OP.

Inverted snobbery at its best.

still not seeing a answers at all that are based in real fact.

Independent schools do not get better exam results than state schools.

Independent schools do not have more money to spend on individual pupil's education than state schools.

Some independent schools have small classes, some have large - I've seen a class of 60 in an independent school, with no TA

Independent schools do not have better behaviour or less bullying than state schools.

This may come as a shock to some people... independent schools do not have more ex-pupils than state schools!

What sports facilities precisely are you saying privately educated pupils have that state school pupils don't?

What good private schools can offer is time. And they have plenty of money. Which means, for example, that Eton has a fully equipped theatre and a professional director on the staff- so if the boys fancy putting on a play everything they need is ready and waiting for them. There is usually a range of sporting and cultural activities that no state school could begin to afford to offer (for obvious reasons). The music is often better- once again it's a matter of time and money. I'm talking about good private schools here, obviously. Many are mediocre at best. But Rugby isn't.

I agree with the OP- the academic offering may well not be any better. The "extras" are.

There is an interesting discussion to be had about whether the sort of kids who go to the "top" private schools are the mostly the sort who are born into circumstances where they would acquire the "cultural capital" their schools provide anyway- the school just makes it easier.

I guess DD3 with only 12 years' state education is not in a position to judge regarding behaviour in class.

I agree bullying will take place anywhere, and being away from home would make it far, far worse.

Sports facilities appear to be wonderful (tennis courts, acres of games pitches), but DD3 is not into sport so spends her allocated hours in the superb gym, with the occasional foray to the indoor pool.

Class size for A level is maximum of eight, I cannot comment for lower down the school.