Discuss The Archers here. There's hut construction, new teen arrivals, pastured eggs, pining Pip and other fun Spring-like stories to choose from.

[PseudoBadger]

Maybe if we don't look directly at the other storyline it will disappear?

We Don't agonize over Lily, Freddie, George, Ben and the rest of them, rarely hear about parent evenings, school plays or academy status etc.

We did have a bit of a storyline about which school Lily and Freddie should go to, didn't we? (Elizabeth didn't believe in private education; Nigel did.) I think there was something about Dan and the Cathedral School, and wasn't there a chance of Pip getting a music scholarship there, and taking after Phil musically? (When did we last hear a hint that Pip's at all musical?)

So I think that while we don't hear much about Ambridge children once they're at school, we do get quite a bit about choosing which school they'll go to.

Also, while it's a pretty small proportion of boarders in Britain, there will be areas of the population where it will be higher - this includes children of people in the forces, but I would expect it also to include children from the land-owning side of agriculture (rather than the labouring side.) So it would not be unreasonable for parts of Ambridge to at least have secondhand knowledge of boarding, if not first-hand.

SOC could at least learn to google.

I agree that the boarding school issue is to ensure the end of this story line. The SWs need something to be so public and final that it can't be excused.
Abused women put up with years of physical and mental abuse before reporting/leaving, we don't want that so Henry being sent away will bring things to a speedy head. I hope

We Don't agonize over Lily, Freddie, George, Ben and the rest of them, rarely hear about parent evenings, school plays or academy status etc.

Speak for yourself! I'm an out and proud nerd when it comes to obsessing over all this stuff. But yes, I expect it's an engineered red line.

For me, it would have worked better if he'd said 'Helen, you're not coping, and Loxley Barratt isn't good enough for Henry. I've discovered that Previously Unknown Prep School in Hollerton could take Henry after Easter. They have a coach pick up service, a breakfast club, an after school club and a holiday playscheme. There's compulsory school on Saturday mornings. After a year or two of that, he can move up to full boarding. Mum and Dad will pay. Sign here.'

Or, even better: Henry has some serious health problem. Rob makes a decision to let him have some risky treatment which Helen would never have agreed to. That might have done it.

I love Kirsty hiding until Rob left. She's fab! And Rob thinking all the problems are because there is no proper father figure!!

Ursula's voice goes right through me!

Pip = very annoying

The boarding school issue does seem to wind a lot of people up but I think too it's a red line for Helin and will be the catalyst for her to leave the EA fog. P&T won't stand by either.

It's not a plot hole if there are a few schools which take very young boarders. It's not an issue for the couple's finances as MIL is paying. It is entirely in keeping with knobs plan to control Hellin. It sounds as though the school visit was just an initial approach and far more would need completing before September.

The only safe thing for Kirsty to do is gain hellins confidence by keeping her secret, because to blab at this stage would only send Hellin back into knobs arms as it did when Kirsty first tried to reach out to Hellin. She was still taking all the blame for the problems and needs to see its all him. If Kirsty beaks her promise now Hellin could cut all contact as she is so fragile.

Hellin needs to come out of her fog and focus on an escape plan. She can't do it if knobs knows he's rumbled. And pat, tony, Tom et al will go in with hob nail boots and Hellin will be even more freaked out. Look how she blasted Pat.

I had a horrible visceral reaction to the scene where Knob and Arsula were walking around the school. I went to boarding school at 11, and it bought back some really horrible feelings (I spent 5 years at boarding school and feel that living in enforced separation from my family during that time inflicted some serious emotional damage that took me years to come to terms with).

My parents also thought it was a great educational opportunity. I've always struggled with the fact that they valued it over my emotional well-being and over our family life.

I'll be seriously peed off if Helen folds on this one and allows Henry to be sent away.

Do you think SOC slipped in that 'over feminised upbringing' line purely to wind up us lot?

Maybe, spiker, but then on the other hand, Kirsty did sound like someone who had taken on board a few MN relationship threads.

Black tie dinner tonight, 6.30 for 7. Where can I conceal my headphones?

*Stickerrocks - in your bra. And then spend 13 minutes in the loo.

I know quite a lot of people who went to boarding school (and I'm bad comp followed by red brick uni followed by Oxford type, and my kids are all comp educated).
The only ones I know who went young were choristers, and I also know parents who moved so they could get their musical boys into a choir with day school. But 5/6 is very young, and rare. But if it's the kind of school which takes on old boys sons rather than testing, well maybe it's dodgy in other ways? And needs the money?
I have known several parents who've been surprised that it wasn't easy to get their children into their old school, and conversely that state schools were much better than they expected.

Dorothy was at the 21st, she was a friend of a friend or a sister of a friend, so Shula may have done no more than say Hello, and might struggle to put a face to the name.

We Don't agonize over Lily, Freddie, George, Ben and the rest of them, rarely hear about parent evenings, school plays or academy status etc.

Actually, it annoys me that TA doesn't talk about schools more because in RL it is such a huge thing. But it's too much of a political hot potato for them even though they do manage other hot potatoes like religion and hunting.

Listening again, Ursula and Rob are so sure of themselves that this new plot must fail! Hubris.

I have a memory that Ruari ended up going to a Catholic boarding school, and that Brian was fine with that as it fitted with the culture of his Irish relatives. Does that ring bells for anyone else? It's definitely not the same school that Rob went to.

Bollocks about R's "feminised upbringing" though- we heard quite a lot about Siobhan's German partner (Dieter?) for a while, though I think they had split up before she became ill.

Presumably in Rob's view an 'over-feminized upbringing' just means the lad had a mother and grandmother. My god, the horror!

BYOS Poor Henry is hardly being 'violent at school'; he's a 5 yr. old who's just pushing a girl who's calling him names. Hardly head butting a teacher, I speak as an ex EY teacher. .

I know ppeat but most private schools won't take a child without any knowledge and are unlikely to take a boy boarding who might perhaps need more care than they offer

If they contact the current school they might find they have no idea about the mental state of the mother..::

Law suit waiting to happen

My school had boarders and took from 7 but there were only 6-7 girls below 11 and all had parents posted to dangerous countries (military or oil industry normally). The girls tended to go in and out of boarding. The school took them as an exception.

Didn't knobarse say the baby will be there by the time he starts ? (if he does). It could be at age 6. It wasn't clear.

Question. Where was Arsula when the slap happened. With her out of the way there could be more da. Of course she might encourage him. 'A slap never hurt anyone, just bringing her to her senses dear'.
She always sounds as if she wants Henry fattened up for sacrifice or a feast.

The thing I find hardest to understand about the boarding school SL is not that they're proposing to pack Henwee of at the age of 5 rising 6, but that Rob's parents are prepared to pay. I had a quick look at what it might cost, and UK Boarding Schools site has an average of £7287 per term for prep, so over £21000 a year. That is a heck of a slice out of a farming family's income. And it's not just a one-off cost either, and there's uniform, and extras too. I also wonder if they'll be planning to send SOK off .

It is extraordinarily, and oddly, generous, particularly for a child you've only just met. Not that I'm sure there aren't such genuinely generous people about, it just strikes me as being a bit beyond most of us.

This does make me wonder if Rob's parents have sources of income other than farming, and whether Rob does in fact have access to unearned income of his own, which would explain the hunting etc.

I'm sure soc has made an assumption about rob and is basing him on all those people he feels look down at him at the Beeb (privately educated/Oxbridge/reasonably well off parents)

He strikes me as someone who has a chip on his shoulder. Not sure why though!!

From the Radio Times article: "each Rob-centric episode of The Archers is now a theatre of tension and pain."

How very true.

My mother went to boarding school at 3, but that was 85 years ago and her mother was a cow who was totally uninterested in her children - and unfortunately I think my mother was undoubtedly damaged, although an element of that was certainly her mother's attitude.

I don't know whether this necessarily applies to boarding prep schools, but unfortunately there are a few lousy private schools around who will take virtually anyone who turns up on their doorstep and is prepared to pay their fees. Given that neither Knob nor Arse have any interest in the quality of education on offer, it is reasonably credible that is exactly the type of school they would have opted for. And, after all, this is the school that produced Knob, which is hardly a recommendation.

With the way Rob is, I actually think Henry would be better off at boarding school (where I am sure there would be a lot of pastoral care for one so young) than living under the control of Rob.

But what I can actually see happening is that everything will come out into the open and Robs culvert blocking and Ambridge flooding will be held against him- "we'll report you for that if you ever come near Helen, Henry and SoK again" and he will disappear never to be heard from again. Very Eastenders (nb not sad about Rob going, just if we have such a rubbish storyline).

Why are Rob and Arse even considering sending a child away to school, who is no relation? I'm baffled. Also, it would be very surprising if a boarding school had any places at such short notice. Especially if it's any good. A lot of children are put down at birth for a school place, and it is often a decision made early on in a child's life, unless they are going for a scolarship or something. I am also completely confused by Knob's relationship with his mother. Surely even a nutter like him might think there was something a little strange about this hair-brained plot. Maybe I'm wrong. Does anyone out there have experience of being posted off to school by a wicked step-grandmother and having the experience paid for by an estranged grandfather?

Was about to post something very similar. Unless Hellin can extricate herself I can't help think Henwee would better off at boarding school than in that abusive, dysfunctional atmosphere at home. Knob is pretending to do it to protect Henwee from his mentally unstable mother - in fact the person Henwee needs protecting from is his psycho step-father. I was also pondering the significance of the rightful heirs to Home Farm and Bridge Farm both being off the scene for a while (bearing in mind the unspellable Ruari is Brian's only true son) ready to come back and claim their inheritance at some later date. I don't think it will get that far of course - Hellin will come to her senses and this is what will make it happen.