Is Westminster School the best school on Earth?

[statesmom]

Just looking at their website and they have 97 places for their students at Oxford and Cambridge this year?!

We have an 8 year old son and want to focus on getting him into this place, just next to the Palace of Westminster. It looks amazing! Any thought on parents with children at the school very welcome indeed, especially any thoughts on the application process. Thank you for someone new to London.

You might not like what Bonsoir has to say, but the be honest, she the one person on MN best placed to to have an opinion of Euro/Franco/US routes to education.

I for one applaud her clear sighted view of how children of the elite are nudged towards first tier tertiary education.

I don't say I like it, but it is the reality.

Statesmom is neither an well-informed upper-middle class mom of a privately educated child in the US, nor a grabbing, wannabee that she portrays herself as.

neither one would be so ill-informed.

To Statesmom I have one child at the school and one starting this September.

Please save yourself some money and get an Educational Psychologist or the School to do some unprepared CAT tests (IQ) on your son. If he is able, and by that I mean in the top 2-3%, then push on and your son will succeed on entry. If he is not in that group, save yourself money and really consider what is best for him. We have not tutored and I would say that W value ability over performance. This reflects their confidence in drawing out the boy and achieving what potential their is.

Westminster is a good school but be under no illusion the boys are quite normal in many ways. Computers, sport, music, TV, (i.e. normal life) is integral to their life as it should be. The amount of time spent doing 'not a lot' in the houses is huge, but the boys don't seem to be the worse for it. And when the girls arrive in 6th form, they are hugely civilising and I believe draw out the competitiveness (the girls appear more academic or at least harder working).

If I can afford gain entry for my DD at 6th form, she will also attend (if she agrees - will want boys company by then hopefully?)

Feels like I have a ringside seat at some weird cage-fighting contest between the educational "elite"...

1. Over 50% of people contributing to this thread(*) have no real interest in it other than to name-drop that either:
   a) they went to Oxbridge (or Westminster)
   b) their friends went to Oxbridge (or Westminster)
   c) their children are going to Oxbridge (or Westminster)

2. Statesmom is doing a fantastic job of prodding / goading / whipping up middle-class Londoners into a state of near-frenzy:
   (Think Kevin Spacey in Se7en who pushes poor old Brad Pitt over the edge through his taunting)

3. I really couldn't care less about some of the blind alleys we seem to have gone down (Hint: if you want to start a thread about the French school system....feel free to do so but don't get in the way of what has become fabulous spectator entertainment)

4. The superficiality of the level of debate is staggering....literally staggering. If you really want to talk about gaining an edge to Oxbridge entry I would imagine you need to address some of the following issues:

• "favoured" College access that you gain at certain schools
• hard v soft subjects
• A-list vs B-list vs C-list Colleges
• Cambridge vs Oxford vs US destinations vs London Colleges
• Oxbridge target "quotas" for state school applicants
• Hard data for applications / offers of places from comparable schools

(Hint: Raw numbers for Oxbridge offers may not tell the full story of what a school has to offer)

(*): I went to Cambridge...but have no children at Westminster.

Indeed, VQSV

I am pretty certain that if ds shows the academic promise to achieve a tier one uni, then his school will push the boat out for him. Despite being a state school.

I think personally he is a good Russell Group candidate. But I am pretty sure he will develop his interests over the next couple of years and then decisions will be made.

So if his interests diverge measurably from academic uni pathways, then surely it is my job to make sure he gets the best qualifications for the career pathway he desires?

Maybe I am somewhat deluded. My life is has been full of people from various upper/middle class academic pathways...and loads who have gone other pathways.

I fear that the UK is becoming somewhat like the US. Nothing but the 'Best' is acceptable. Very different from my day. So yes, I agree that the UK is becoming a deal less meritocratic, and much more like the blinkered US monied view of what is needed for success in life.

VQSV Honestly all of that got covered hundreds of post ago, chill

fuck of all the yack, where are the cocktails?

madame

ta luv.

eh up

life is too fucking short.

Hysterical thread
OP not for 1 minute do I think you are roleplayingacharacterfromanAmericansoap for real but you do have an undiscovered talent for comedy LOL

sadly I think the op is totally for real.

Met any pushy NY parents recently?

at strike through attempt

I mean for real in a meta way. not a micro way.

nul points for goading. 10/10 for portrayal of the global monied elite.

but I await my pina colada...

Gosh late one MD!
Sadly yes quote from NY "mom" 2 weeks ago at her Dd not being placed in local competition - in best loud NY accent " Honey, who needs a rosette from a provisional competition, we are aiming for a gold at the Olympics"
.... No pressure there then

shall we all puke gently together???

nite!

nite eveyone. let's all meet up on A level day and compare!

OK a few things.

It seems this "super tutor" has old Westminster entrance and Challenge exams. He said they used to give them out but don't any longer (Eton, for example has King's Scholar exams on its website). I think this will really help, even if we are not going for a Queen's Scholar.

Secondly, we've decided to gift maybe £1-2k a year over the next few years. I think it will help and even if it gives us a slight advantage it is worth it. Their development director is an American woman (woo hoo!) who I could get to know that way. With a new Headmaster coming in I think this could help.

We will leave no stone unturned. Little Dean's Yard here we come!!

(ps to those with snarky comments: I have noted your names down and skip your posts, so please don't waste your time)

Darling I don't think gifting the odd grand will help. You need to gift a new building, or refurbish the school theatre to buy your way into these places....

Fabulous thread - Mumsnet at its best!

Proportionately, isn't £1k a year a bit like volunteering to bring in a batch of cakes for the cake sale?

It is indeed MN at it's best- endless amusement for free!
(Is OP for real?)