state school child got into Eton

[kris123]

Dear Mums,

Our son was accepted into Eton, and we are indeed very happy, but as always there are now new concerns. He is currently attending a state school, and is due to finishing this year at year 6, whereas Eton only starts in year 9. This means that we have two years "inbetween".

Please note that the offer to Eton, as all of them, is conditional on passing the common entrance exam , which I hear is not difficult, but still requires some work (especially as there are specific subjects like history and geography and latin to cover).

Our choices are:

1. play it safe, send him to the local prep school waste 14k a year basically, and put him under totally not needed stress with kids fighting for 13+ intake. Most prep schools will take him as he will simply improve their statistics.

2. send him to the grammar school, which our son will most probably get into (he did pass the test, but decisions due in March). Issue there for me is that they will not know the Independent Common Entrance System, and will not prepare him for it, and furthermore will not even know that he is leaving them at age of 13 to go to Eton. To add to this they do not teach Latin, one subject that is needed on Common Entrance Tests i think.

3. send our child abroad for one year, to France or Germany to learn a new language, have some fun, ski, relax, and basically enjoy a year after the stress of last two months, learning to board etc. Then bring him back for year 8 to prep school and prepare him for the exam that is towards the end of the year.

Now, I am lost with this topic, but maybe someone can guide me, especially on feasibility of plan 2) and 3). You see we are very much pro state school system - grammar of course, and want our son to learn that there are grammar schools for smart kids and be proud of his years there.

Now my concerns are:

a) how difficult are these common entrance tests? can someone actually fail them if they are smart and do some work, or do you need a lot of work and prep for it like with the admissions process?

b) what is the level and type of work done at the grammar schools... is their program similar to prep schools so that this knowledge can be used for common entrance?

c) how risky would it be to take a child out of the UK education system for one year, and bring him back to the prep school and prepare for the common entrance tests in one year?

Thanks, happy but still concerned parent

I think the system is terribly confusing. My DS went to prep school, was offered a 'headmasters place' at Westminster in one of the boarding houses, when he was about 10 or so, conditional on taking the common entrance (no mention of needing to get 70% or the syllabus) and could take the 'challenge' if he wanted.

Looking back we had absolutely no idea what the common entrance involved and wouldn't even have known the questions to ask. We had no idea what the Westminster under school involved or the difference in the education it offered compared to his existing prep.

We did the sums and decided the finances were impossible.
So he went to a highly selective private day school with charitable funding.

Someone previously posted the dangers of being 'poor' and going to such schools without being able to afford all the trips etc. I would second the advice to think very carefully indeed about this. The boys at DS school measured each other by the square meterage of their homes and the cost of their mobile gadgetry and their expensive holidays. Because we scraped to send the children to private schools, even with the charity, home life wasn't much fun- few outings to theatre/music/concerts/meals out/holidays all had to be rationed. It was a very unhappy seven years and he is well out of it. The extracurricular opportunities there were for the richer families, not for all the boys. It was a battle to save him from drowning socially. If I had the choice again I would let him take up the Buckinghamshire grammar school place we turned down and spend more on us as a family and perhaps had a happier, more confident child. But one never knows. Thankfully he is happy at university.

Fantastic opportunity and congrats on your son's achievement. A late contribution to this discussion:

Whilst many of these comments are (quite rightly) around the formal educational pros and cons of passing the CE, a major factor in making the transition from state to public school is culture.

I moved from a state school to very good independent day school to public school and the cultural differences between them were absolutely enormous.

I'd recommend prep school - there is far more continuity between prep and public.

My son has just sat his Eton College List test - entry 2014. Does anyone know when the results come out. Thank-you!

If its the pretest for 2014 then the results are out now. DS and friends from prep school sat the test earlier this term and we all have our results. A call to Admissions might be needed if the postman has delayed yours. Best of luck to your DS.

Many Thanks for your help. My son had taken his test in September 2011.

Boys do get into Win Coll from state comps they sit the same entrance exam (much harder than CE) as those from prep school they are just let off the Latin. I don't necessarily agree with the above I know St Olaves I suspect they would go most of the way towards preparing your DS for CE you would proably have to find a tutor for French and a tutor to assist him with practice papers for English and history. The science is doddle comprising of short answers as is the geography you do have to do a field trip and write it up but as you obviously live near Kent there's miles of coast and with a bit if imagination and again a tutor I believe it's doable. The are excellent text books; galore park who provide sample questions and answers etc.
I only know all of this because I became disillusioned with my DS prep and looked at home schooling thought the Win Coll entrance exam I didn't in the end but if you've got the time and motivation you can do it.