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.

Hmmm, I think I've probably missed the OP's main points, but taking the OP at face value and what I have read, I'm going to make a possibly wild assumption here and guess that you (OP) are American and have recently moved to London. On that basis, do you think one of Groton or Phillips Andover or Phillips Exeter could be the the best school on earth? If so, you probably would think Westminster could be in the running too as it's roughly their equivalent, along with various other boarding schools.

However, as others have pointed out, it doesn't matter in the slightest- what matters is which school will suit your child the best. A lack of Westminster place doesn't rule out anything in the future and I say that as a Groton reject who happily bounced into Bowdoin from a state school.

I am a bit perplexed at the scorn poured onto a liberal arts education. Harvard, Yale, Princeton etc are all liberal arts colleges at the under grad level and I'd be delighted if either of my DC ended up at one of the top US liberal arts colleges. I'd possibly be more delighted if they stayed in the UK because of costs but we all thrived in our liberal arts environment.

Wow two of my dcs went to Westminster but only after careful reflection about whether it was the right place FOR THEM. Don't be put off, any of you, by some of the comments on this thread. Yes, it plucks out the bright children but not necessarily the obviously top-of-their-prep-schools, alpha, over tutored (insert educational insult of choice) sorts. Mine were none of these...Then on top of that it works some serious magic. That's why they get the Oxbridge results pattern which is the envy of most other schools. Lots of top level independent schools are highly selective with, on paper, pupils of similar IQs to those at Westminster, but somehow they don't add value the way W does. W suits the quirky creative thinker who knows when and how to work for exam results while simultaneously enjoying a rich extra curricular life.

I don't think there were any comments criticising Westminster School, Ainsley? They were rather aimed at the op's obnoxious attitude and use of language. If indeed it was a genuine post.

Aw the Sword of Naiceness slayed my comment

Thank you Helen.....is tbis where I apologise

I think OP is confusing the Palace of Westminster (parliament) with Buckingham Palace (Queen's place). As far as I know the Queen only goes to the P of W once a year to open parliament - and she doesn't stop to chat to schoolkids on the way.

DH went to an Oxbridge (a year early). A lot of these schools offer scholarships to the brightest pupils in local primary schools. DH was offered a place at such a school and turned it down. It was not the school for him and it made not one ounce of difference to his 'chances' of going to Cambridge and reading a science subject. He was a naturally bright and inquisitive child and managed academic work seem effortless throughout life (it is for him).
We were talking about how there can be certain 'types' at universities, and it very much depends on the subject you read. He was saying you could sit down with any group of people at Cambridge (or Oxford) and the person at the table who couldn't follow the convesation would be reading a particular subject and always be from a public or independent school. That is how these schools get so many pupils at Oxbridge, and it certainly doesn't make them the best.

Oooh yegods was your Dh slagging off Arch and Anth (as it was in "my day") or History of Art?

You make an interesting point - for argument. Everything he said may be true but it would be a shame if these subjects were driven out of town (everywhere) either because they may not always attract the greatest scientific or mathematical minds or - as I'm always reading on Education threads - because they don't suit current market conditions or lead to well paid jobs.

Every time I walk into a gallery or museum or hear about a discovery that might help us in the future I'm glad that some people are studying these things and going on to do the basic work of preservation. Where would the Pitt-Rivers; Ashmolean; Fitz; British Museum or a hundred others be without them?

(And neither was my own subject btw.)

To be fair yegods would n't it depend on the subject of the conversation.
Very bright humanity students would n't follow a technical conversation on maths or sciences but scientists could blag their way through a conversation about humanities (unless it was in an other language!)

Westminster has had a 'bad' year for Oxbridge entry (the universities are under huge pressure to allow for contextual factors). And the move to the Ivy League is now gaining momentum (often cheaper due to scholarships and more attractive internationally). Several 10A* boys at GCSE were turned down. This was not unique to Westminster.

As for entry, they tend to get applications from the top boys in the usual London preps for 13+ and then look and rank them in order (having often assessed them on the same day) based on the IQ test predominately with, and this bit is uncertain, lesser regard to performance in the maths and english. Your schools headmaster will have been asked to provide CAT scores etc. and will know what his chances are at the end of Year 5. The 11+ entry from state schools I am unsure about.

They do give boys as much sport, music, cultural opportunities as they wish with most of the education in the mornings. The boys are very normal with a handful of prodigies in different areas. The boarding house system works well as the day pupils hang out there before and after school. The new sports hall is excellent and some of the music teachers are internationally renowned.

Girls entering at 16+ are academic elite and raise the standard. They are well received by everyone.

We are sending a second child there and cannot speak highly enough of the teaching and remarkably little pressure on the boys who are relaxed. And that is quite different from the girls schools around (mentioning no names). Perhaps, one of the reasons many of their top girls leave and move to W.

Ruff, indeed. I'm afraid I nudged the post button too soon. If I'd ever met anyone who spoke along the lines of the op at any parental gathering I'd have made my way to the other side of the room pronto! There would have been plenty of more civilised and understated folk to talk to.

Odd I agree with the pressure point. Our dd in y10 in an elite girls' school is under far more pressure academically and socially (the school wants to produce a type which W never did), than y10 Westminsters. I wonder if she'd like to move for 6th form...?

On that note does anyone have a dd who's gone through the application process? I know they test in the proposed A level subjects in the autumn of y11 but apart from that I don't know much about it, eg how many get interviewed, etc.

Quite interesting to read some of the observations/comments. If it is true that children with similar IQ are more likely to get a place at Oxbridge due to extra value added by Westminster especially in terms of extra curricular activities than I have some serious doubts. Not so much about Westminster but more about Oxbridge.

I really don't like the fact that in the UK the best off can buy places for their children in the most prestigious educational establishments even if the kids are not exceptionally clever. This explains why there are quite a few incompetent people in top positions and why change for the better is almost impossible to achieve.

^ It would be difficult for a less than super-clever child to gain entrance to Westminster by virtue of money.

Zero No, it wasn't Arch or Anth, it was PPS course that no one else has ever heard of. Oxford equivalent was PPE which was their only Economics course 'which is why Oxford economists are so rubbish' apparently! I did History of Art (note the 'did', not 'read') at a concrete university. Not for me the dreaming spires of a redbrick(which were so pitied by the Cambridge lot I know! ) Even so I was able to follow a conversation and join in, and was welcomed.

Summerends This would have been at a pub or college bar, converations would have ranged from favourite ABBA song, beer or sport and never, ever any course work. Just not done. (They might make a few in jokes about their own subjects with someone in their own college, on the same course but they had all grown up ostracised at times by by their freaky intelligence, so they tended to make socialising as easy for one another as possible.

You have no idea that you have done anything wrong statesmom.

Your comments are just ignorant and you say you are a lawyer ???? Wow

yegods not sure how intelligence is needed to follow a conversation about the topics you mention even sport . I assume you mean the ability of quick repartee and lateral leaps in conversation. If so I know some deep thinkers who might be left trailing because they are pondering over a particular point that that caught their interest.

Ainsley your comment alway seems to crop up more with regards to academic girls' schools. I wonder why that it is.

Oddsins - what is a bad year for Westminster, how many places?

I calculate 45+30=80 from the 2011 leavers sheet, has this gone down significantly? Also, Westminster has a large 6th form intake mainly of girls, is it possible to tell what percentage of places go to them?

I am genuinely interested because we are constantly told by the Telegraph that its much harder for private school applicants now, but there is little evidence of this in the schools I know. Is Westminster paying the price for this?

Its a bit off thread, but then OP is hardly in a position to complain.

cake I am a great supporter of the Fair Access strategies employed by universities but it does look from the Oxbridge acceptances this year at all the West London indies as if they have made a determined effort to reduce the success rate, that includes at Westminster to my knowledge. Most of the schools seem to have almost half their usual acceptances and they have rejected some very good candidates indeed. It really does seem to me by the standard of some of the candidates they have rejected that the attempts to level the playing field may have swung to the point where it actually is harder to get in from schools like Westminster.

Mind you it is always unpredictable.

And as I said in my first post there are plenty of other good unis and courses.

So was statesmom really rude to me, I haven't been back since I posted and her response was deleted. Very odd mom

........ No, not directly or specifically to you Shooting. Not as far as I remember.

It's a pity that anyone coming later to the thread might think that people were being deliberately, needlessly unhelpful.......

zero I think it is quite clear that OP was very odd though I gather there is a strain of super competitive US parents who do think that it's Westminster /St. Paul's or bust. There was a "mom" at my DDs nursery who had actually toured the schools whilst still pregnant with her DS she would certainly have been pushed to match the school to her DSs personality and ability!!

Different schools suit different children. We have two - one attended a London Day School similar to Westminster, had a ball and the happiest 10 years of his life and is going to Oxford next year. He probably would have gone to Oxford regardless of whether he attended a London hot house to be honest. He was a square peg in a square hole.

Our other child is more sensitive, less confident and probably in the top 10% rather than top 2% intellectually. We could have tutored to get her into SPGS for example but we didn't because we knew the environment would have crushed her. Instead she is at a gentle, leafy, nurturing environment where she is expected to achieve a good combination of A/A* GCSE this summer. I know in my heart she would have done less well elsewhere because being in the bottom quartile would have crushed her and she would have given up.

I don't know if she'll contemplate Oxbridge - we are focussing on 6th forms at present and she won't be going to KCS or Westminster because she is too gentle a soul. Like schools, she will go to university where she is able to feel confident and happy.

Like schools universities choose the applicants - you might think it works the other way round but for the the schools/uni's at the top of the tables it really doesn't.

Westminster School has just had a "record" number of places at Oxbridge:

www.westminster.org.uk/

So I don't know why anyone would think that their percentage, on this score, has decreased.

And it sends more pupils to US schools than any school in London bar ASL. That is also an important statistic I think because the best US schools offer a far better education than the best UK schools. As the $ numbers get closer you will see more of the best UK pupils go across the pond. It's just getting started.

Oh dear OP, I decided not to get involved in the nasty posting on this thread but I might I respectfully suggest that if school's in the US are so much better in the UK that you consider returning home for the sake of your son's education.

statesmom did you know that Shane McGowan (from The Pogues) went to Westminster? If you don't know who he is then have a quick google.

I'm sure you'll be impressed.

statesmom your back!!!!!

I think that's on a par with Ronnie Biggs and Walter Sickert at KCS