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.

What if statesmom is actually the precocious/unhappy 8 year old DS?

Looks like Statesmom is set for a home un. The only hope of W school incumbents is that her DS would sabotage her effort...

The reality is that most DC don't get much of a choice where to go to school. Be that because their parent chooses, or it's simply the one allocated to them, or they passed/failed the 11 plus.

I don't think giving ten year olds a steer on schools is life threatening.

That said, I personally wouldn't steer my DC to W unless I were sure they'd thrive. It's a very challenging environment academically. You have to be a real self starter.

As for the old boys network, well of course it still exists to some extent.

But the advent of global competition means that the old boys are spread across the world, so the likelihood of their being one at every job interview is relatively slim .

It may well come BeckandCall, it is called a midlife crisis, very common among those pressurised into choices that were not there own. Now that I am well beyond mid life I can say that I have seen it many times.

Sorry 'their' own.
I can see some justification for schools but not university. Our youngest chose something that I didn't think sensible but I think you need to go with the dream. In actual fact it worked out brilliantly for him. You only get one life, it is not a rehearsal. Letting your parents map it out is not a good idea- they map out their own. They guide and support their children's life.

I think this is the problem that people get with MIL. The partner has always let her have her own way, never stood up to her and then they marry or get a partner who won't be controlled.

Well we told our dd when she was 11 and we made a mistake.

He won't be 12 when you decide. Unless you go only via Challenge, which is pretty risky.

We’re just starting to think about schools for ds3, 9yo in y5. Btw ds1 and ds2 went to W. Stunning school in many ways but not perfect either. Which school is?

We may or may not enter ds3 for the W pretests next year when he’ll be turning 11. We need to see how he shapes up this year. There’s no point in entering him if he’s not up to the standard, but we won’t be engaging a super tutor in order to try to inflate his performance.

Meanwhile we will look at other schools too, to be sure we’re doing out utmost to find the best school for ds3.

We’ll listen to what he thinks about any schools we preselect for consideration, and while he will to an extent be steered by us and by his school, we won’t tell him where he’ll be going.

Does anyone else get the feeling that statesboy is a project.

"Taking a step back and touring these schools with your DS, gathering reliable information, then guiding them in a decision based on the factors that matter to you and your DS and how each school matches up. That is good parenting that equips them with the skills to face future similarly important decisions in life. I really recommend it." There is quite a lot of difference between that and both telling them or letting them do exactly what they want.

I take people's point about lack of choice or faced with limited choice but if a parent is economically, and in terms of their DCs ability, able to have Westminster on their list of schools they aspire to for their DCs then they also have the choice of a number of other schools all of which will enable them to do just as well academically, and offer them huge ranges of extra curricular activities. St Pauls, Kings College School, Latymer Upper, Hampton to name just four.

Even the most ridiculous alpha mothers I have encountered in West London, the ones that moan about the numbers of bursaries offered, engage in undercover tutoring, come out with all sorts of crazy Chinese whispers about what the school are looking for, betraying their own ignorance of what the schools are actually looking for and the distinction between ability and cramming (that distinction is very challenging for some), do actually go and look at all the schools, and take the advice of their Prep School Heads on where they will stand most chance of being successful both in terms of getting in AND once they get in.

statesmom is a whole new level of deranged..................

Isn't the reality that people who have children who might go to Westminster do start planning early (if for no other reason than finance) but that Westminster will just be one of a number of schools considered? Is Westminster the best school on earth? No it is one of a number of good schools of a certain type, each of which offer something slightly different. Why consider bribery when there are do many other good schools that are also perfectly capable of getting a suitable child into Oxbridge?

If conversely you feel your child has little chance of going to Oxbridge without Westminster (or another good university) and will have no hope of a career without contacts, they probably aren't suited to a school like Westminster.

To put it harshly, if you really, really need them, they probably don't need you.

Partial x post with shooting!

Its really an interesting year for me. I will be one of the first ones of my year to hit 50, and all of my old friends and I are in a reflective mood...the oxbridge graduates, the redbrick (as they were called then) they poly lot, those who went straight into work...

How far we have all come. Some have done extremely well, in a worldy sense. some have done extremely well in an artistic sense. Some have just about managed to keep their heads above water. And the spread of HE is through all of them.

But the reality is, if Statesboy is already enrolled in a prep school in the UK (which we must assume is the case) then her first port of call is the principal, surely?

Someone who knows your child, their strengths, their weaknesses, where they might pick up speed in a couple of years etc?

without knowledge of where statesboy is currently being educated, and the opinion of his teachers atm, then really its just pissing in the wind.

But as statesmom clearly does not want to share such info....

I reckon it is statesboy posting.

Because the dissonance between the supposedly worldly mom who will climb over the bodies of others to get their cs to W as opposed to the wholly unworldly idea that a couple of thou and a nodding acquaintance with the donations manager would make a blind bit of difference shows a keen intelligence, but one with mahoosive gaps in their world knowledge.

bless!

If it is statesboy he's not 8. 11 maybe- I could see DS coming up with these wild statements.

The real question is: who will achieve post 1000?

oooh, taz.. I do hope the OP...life is so short in amusing moments....

It will be sad when it is over- it has given me lots of amusement.

It will

be

me.

Hi all,

I realise this is now many years after this thread was posted but it was very interesting to read - and gave me lots of entertainment. I actually went to Westminster School and would've been in the same year as this woman's son! I can attest to the fact that Westminster does not embody similar values to statesmom in any manner - it is a discerning, but also, yes, highly academic school. There is no room for such arrogance among Westminsters, and none of my friends parents have such disgusting attitudes towards people or education. They tend to think about the wellbeing of their children.

Personally, I was at a mid-tier state school before Westminster, and had absolutely no help applying, whereas I know of some that sank thousands into exam prep for their children just to get rejected. Many of their tests (particularly 16+) are geared towards critical thinking skills, outside of pure knowledge, which sometimes cannot be tutored into a child. Companies which state that they will get your child into these schools cannot guarantee success, with some being outright scams.

With regards to the 50/50 point on Oxbridge/US - that is not the story for all Westminsters. It is not a system by which you are guaranteed a place by any manner of connections (at least with Oxbridge) but instead you are massively encouraged to work really very hard. Many in my year left burnt out, and honestly, it really isn't for everyone, even the most academic. Many of my friends (even one that got into Yale last year) had to take a gap year just from sheer exhaustion. It is not a small feat to get into a top university, and whilst Westminster provides resources, they cannot do all of the work for you. There always has to be motivation from the child's side. Ultimately, oxbridge/US is not the be all and end all of education, and that is something that the tutors at Westminster also stress. They want pupils to succeed in any manner - academic or otherwise. Those that have poor mental health at school, usually have similar parental attitudes to education, which can be crushing for a young adult. For your son's sake, I hope you have shifted your perspective as he has grown older!

Nevertheless, I did love my school to bits, but it was more the people and my friends than 'Westminster abbey' or 'The Queen' that made my experience incredible, and shaped who I am today!

Anyways, thanks for the Sunday night entertainment!

Statesmom - you scare me :)