Lichfield Cathedral School (private schools) accents?

[Foresthealing]

Do private schools in Staffordshire tech Received Pronunciation ?

I don’t want our child to have a “street” style accent which is what most kids tend to do in London now and moving to Staffordshire I’m hoping they teach RP to keep it more neutral. Later on in life accents can sometimes matter or at least having a good vocabulary.

any experiences?

Thanks all

I remember way back when my kids were in nursery the assistants always said “noo” instead of new. Very irritating. No need to worry - I’ve never heard a “noo” from my now grown kids.

My cat is very rp. I’ve never heard such a refined and supercilious meow. It’s so obvious he thinks I’m one of the plebs!

You sound like such a lovely open minded person.

But there is no BBC accent these days. The whole concept is elitist and classiest which is why there are now lots of different accents on the BBC eg Vernon Kay/ sara Cox - Lancashire. There's Welsh accents, Essex accents (sadly), Scottish...

A friend of mine wasn’t allowed to watch Eastenders or Grange Hill as her mum was worried she might pick up the accent. We all thought that was quite funny. Children generally pick up the accent that is around them and seem to be able to switch quite easily from home to school accents and vice versa.

My mother’s answer to try to stop me having a brummie accent was to slap me. Clearly I was a 70’s child

You’re right! I do believe a lot starts at home. Kids just pick up so much from their peers these days. My neighbour having a nightmare with it in London. Their kids have all a sudden become “road men” as she quoted the another day. Which did make me laugh but I guess kids are just trying to fit in with the new slang words

I LOVE the Scottish accent! Honestly Scottish over British accent anyday 🤣 but that’s my personal preference! But since I’m in Britain and my kids are the “narrr what I’m sayinnnn” is bloody awful 🤣

Where are you from? There isn't just one Scottish accent and Scotland is part of Britain so a Scottish accent is in fact a British one.

Jesus Christ - no wonder some people think Private School Parents/ Londoners are Dicks
No schools teach children how to speak, thats your job.
My DC were at Private Secondary school, DD has a pretty neutral accent but DS's is much stronger (me and DH don't really have one) so you don't really have much control over it.

That’s very true 🤣 forgive me I haven’t even had a coffee this morning. I’m from the midlands originally but I’ve live in London 20 years! I do love a Scottish accent though! Even the more stronger parts like Aberdeen

Totally agree with the replies here; accent comes from parents and the school environment. My two DC had definite S London twangs from nursery up, but knew how to speak properly too because that was the way we spoke at home. Since university (both RG), their south London accents have largely disappeared, though they can switch them back on if they want to.

But there's a big difference between mumbling and lazy, incoherent speech and different regional accents.

Somebody like, say, Fiona Bruce speaks very clearly and pleasantly, but she doesn't speak with a plummy London RP accent instead of her own Scottish accent; why on earth would she?

Even the late Queen seriously toned down her RP accent over the decades. Charles still generally has that kind of accent to an extent, but William certainly doesn't - and he's quite posh!!

You’ll likely get a toned down version of the local accent.

😂 I did wonder!

If you want elocution lessons you’ll do better to find a drama tutor either LAMDA or the English Speaking Board. Vocabulary is really a combination of reading and having articulate parents who talk to their children, word games such as scrabble / balderdash / scattogories etc will help.

I agree with this and was wondering why OP chose Lichfield but then read a later post where she said that she was originally from the Midlands so perhaps Midlands implies Lichfield~ish.

It's possible to grow up in Birmingham and not have a brummie accent at all, so I think you'll be ok in Lichfield.

Exactly. I know this part of the country quite well. There is a south Staffordshire accent but many people have moved from Birmingham - Lichfield is only twelve miles from the centre of Birmingham - so lots of people also have - shock, horror - Brummie accents. RP accents are few and far between. As long as they speak grammatically and properly, does it really matter? In any case, the OP's children are older and probably will not acquire a really strong accent.....

Are Scottish people not British? Also, for someone who is concerned about her children having RP/educated accents, the words "more stronger" in the next post are not the best use of English grammar.

Scots always seem to be highly articulate in my experience! And easy to understand. Is there more of a speaking element to their curriculum?

Many Scots, yes, but a strong Glasswegian accent is almost incomprehensible.

*Glaswegian, sorry. Fat fingers.

Can I suggest you send them to School in Somerset, OP? My London friend says my DC sound very posh!

This made me laugh because you have a valid point! Sadly, I didn’t have the best education myself and my grammar isn’t the strongest either. I’m just trying to do the best for my DC. 🙏 apologies if I caused any offence that’s sincerely not my intention