Failed to get into public school?

[Mayamama]

Hi,
my question is derived of general interest, lack of knowedge due to foreign background, and failure to find answers by googling :)
Does anyone know what happens to those kids who are trying to get into public (senior) schools but fail the exams? My logic tells me the rich guy whose child has failed to get in will not put the child into the state school as there seems to be a widespread belief this will somehow hamper their success in the future... But where would the kid go instead? Are there public schools that are non-selective (bar the bucks)? Or do they just become young entrepreneurs?
Puzzled,
May

There are plenty of non-selective independent schools.

There will be an independent school somewhere for your child.

If you wish your child to go to a selective school, you should do your homework to avoid disappointment.

No-no, mine are way too little for that and my question sociological rather than parental (I also certainly would not fit into the category "the rich guy", of which I am glad :) ).
But thank you - it just was one of those gaps in my general knowledge.
Thanks again and have a nice weekend!

Prep schools will steer you towards the "right" level of school . Registrations and pretests mean that although some offers may be dependent on summer exams in Year8 (Common Entrance) in practice relatively few "fail" and have to reconsider their choice at that stage.

Also a tiny minority of children end up in a school that they wouldn't have got into normally because their family provide new facilities!

I don’t know what you mean exactly by the term, “public schools” in this context but I assume you mean all the independent fee-paying private schools. Strictly speaking, there are only a handful of Public Schools (half-a-dozen or so) in the UK and all the other hundreds of fee-paying schools are not public schools but ‘private schools’.

Of course, Public Schools are also private schools too!

Confused?

You don't know what public school means, tpa?

What are the public schools in this country?

Surely there's more than half a dozen

There are 243 public schools.

Really?

Two hundred and forty-three?

Don’t be ridiculous. Seems to me every school that charges a fee is a public school to you. That being the case, there are two dozen public schools in my backyard.

Perhaps the origin of the term may help?

Better still, The Public Schools Act 1868 would name exactly which are the seven Public Schools the Act was aimed at. To me, therefore, there are only seven Public Schools in the UK:

• Charterhouse School
• Eton College
• Harrow School
• Rugby School
• Shrewsbury School
• Westminster School
• Winchester College

All the rest may call themselves what they like.

"Public Schools" are those schools which are members of the HMC. I suspect this is the definition that is in the spirit of the OP's question.

I promise I won't be ridiculous if you won't be rude.

That’s what I suspected too when I said last night I assumed OP meant all fee-paying schools to be public schools. I also said strictly speaking there are only a handful of public schools. The HMC may call themselves and their member schools whatever they like, and if you didn’t patronise me by asking whether I knew what public school was, perhaps I would be more polite. It now begs the question who actually knows the meaning of a public school?

Not all independent schools are "public schools" - just HMC ones.

At least we can agree not all indie schools are public schools. Just where did it say all HMC schools are public schools? Please enlighten me.

The Act was for regulation of "certain" public schools, not an attempt to define all those that existed at the time it was passed. And it was only a description based on whether any child could be considered a candidate, or if they needed to fulfill certain criteria (Merchant Taylor's argued successfully to be excluded on these grounds).

The use of 'public school' for HMC was on the floor of the House of Commons in 1942 by R A Butler in order to provide a definition.

It's all gone a bit anal

OP the private school market is very segmented, there are schools that meet just about every parental need, including the desperate need for illusions of exclusivity obviously, ( there are actually plenty of schools that are more selective /exclusive than the "public" ones listed) I was on another thread and had a look at the GCSE results for a not very selective local day /boarding private school that an OP was seeking a bursary for. They were little better than the local non selective outstanding state school, and certainly worse than the top sets.

Plenty of overseas pupils are not going to make the grade for the more selective private school but provide the custom to keep some fairly mediocre private schools afloat.

I should add that not all private schools that don't have a particularly selective intake are mediocre, some do a brilliant job of helping pupils achieve their potential, but some are.

HMC v SHMIS or Society of Heads (as it's now known)?

My daughter goes to a SHMIS school. You can say what you like because, actually, it is a bit shit.

It now begs the question who actually knows the meaning of a public school?

It may invite the question, but I don't see how it begs any question.

Friday16, you are a MNer after my own heart!