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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Eton Extras?

75 replies

FleurForesight · 26/03/2014 09:01

DS has a place at Eton for 2015, which we're thrilled about. We are currently trying to work out how to pay for it, though, and are wondering how much we might need to include in our calculations for extras (trips, uniform etc)?

The extras vary at our children's current schools; one school has far more expensive extras than the other. If you include optional foreign trips (which we don't), you could probably double the fees...

We are more than happy to buy second-hand uniform (or second-hand anything at all), but don't even know if there's any kind of second-hand shop at Eton.

Could anyone please let us know how much (approximately) we might be looking at?

OP posts:

summerends · 30/03/2014 14:23

Have read this thread through idle curiosity but now feel rather fortunate that those parents with DSs at Winchester get off very lightly indeed in comparison with regards uniform and extras costs.
Peteneras I think for those boys who will be living in the real world without limitless income, it is all part of the process of growing up to have parents restrict their expenditure and make sure that the bill is not a shock.

morethanpotatoprints · 30/03/2014 14:59

Me too. I was reading through curiosity.
I would have thought that furniture would be basic but provided by the school. Also that dc would have their own duvet covers not a school design.
Wow, you live and learn. how interesting.

Congratulations OP. I don't know a thing about the school other than its a prestigious one. Good luck to your ds.

LordPalmerston · 30/03/2014 15:00

this sounds like a thread about a weird sexual practice

peteneras · 30/03/2014 18:04

Only when you have weird sexual practice in your mind all the time that you obviously must have in abundance as the very mention of purchases and furniture triggers such thought in you.

peteneras · 30/03/2014 18:17

They have basic furniture morethan, like I said, you can spend extras on anything and however much you like. And yes, the boys' duvet covers are individual ones, not dictated by the school. In DS's case, it's a blue Chelsea Football Club. The great thing about the school is that it actively promotes individualism - can't say that about most schools, private or state.

IndridCold · 30/03/2014 18:32

peteneras's DS was in College, and they obviously do things differently there. My DS was given a choice of 5 or 6 fabrics for duvet covers, and had to choose 2 - he chose exactly the same 2 as all the other boys apparently.

CameTheDawn · 30/03/2014 18:32

Gosh.

My DS went to the local comp. Free, gratis, nada.

Still got into Oxford ; )

Sorry.

peteneras · 30/03/2014 19:10

It rather depends on what your concept and definition of the real world is, summerends. To some, the real world is one where you depend on the state for a living and your every needs. To another, the real world is one where you spend your entire life hallucinating on drugs and other substances. And yet, to many the real world is one where you earn £5000 p.a. or £25,000 p.a. etc. The real world to many others still is one where you strive to earn as much as possible to provide comfort and security for your family and yourself and even to strangers by way of donations to charities, etc.

My real world is all the above including the Harrods, the playgrounds of Monte Carlo, the state of Dubai, the Ritz Hotels, the shopping plazas of Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, New York, Paris and of course, London. They are most certainly real to me, not necessarily that I am in that sort of class myself but have a few friends who are. They are real because they come from all over the world, the Far East, Middle East, Europe, the Americas and even from Africa. If anyone wants to bury their heads in the sand pretending not to see these worldly things, that’s their problem.

And yes, btw DS is more sensible than you think he is. Many a time we (parents) had to force him to buy something that we knew he wanted but refuses to spend money on.

happygardening · 30/03/2014 19:56

I was frankly stunned when a friend with a DS at Eton was explaining to me that not only do they have to provide at the very least a desk and chair and I think she said a rug but bring it home at the end of every term! There am I moaning about a couple of duvet covers (providing our own is optional) and 3 towels coming home every term, at prep we never saw any of this stuff from the moment they arrived in yr 2 until they left yr 8.
Our extras are low there is a sports kits at Win Coll but no one doing my DS''s sport ever wears it and uniform for lessons is very simple and you can spend as much; Saville row or as little, not much more than you spend
in the state sector as you like. We apparently like most plump for a couple of M and S suits JL shirts.
I do find shoes don't last long as at Win. Coll and I understand Eton there is a lot of walking around so it's definitely worth have two pairs for school.
The big extra on our "dreaded bill" this time was exams an extra £350+.

IndridCold · 30/03/2014 21:44

"I was frankly stunned when a friend with a DS at Eton was explaining to me that not only do they have to provide at the very least a desk and chair"

Ah well, Eton parents are made of stern stuff! The purchase of office furniture holds no fears for us...

happygardening · 30/03/2014 22:08

Indrid your made of more than stern stuff if you don't mind bringing a desk and chair home and taking it back at the beginning and end of every term. No hopping on the train at the end of term for your DS and it's certainly not aimed at those with super minis.
Out of curiosity what do children from outside of the UK do?

Original poster

FleurForesight · 30/03/2014 22:20

I am now minded not to Freecycle our old tat after all!

Thanks for all the useful info here, including info about things I hadn't even thought of. I had no idea about the existence of an Induction Day, for instance (though should have thought of it, given that the children's current schools run them every year).

We had rather hoped that our son might be able to train to and fro at some point, but furniture removals might make this tricky.

Peteneras, my heart sinks thrice annually as it is. I always hope that the fee bills will evaporate if we ignore them, but they don't. Our son is just going to have to live within his means, which are going to be decidedly slender once we have paid his fees.

Thanks for the , morethanpotatoprints!

OP posts:

summerends · 30/03/2014 22:51

Peteneras you are missing the point of my comment. I know that at these schools some children have limitless funds and no amount they put on the bill will shock their parents. That is not the real world for the greater majority of children who will eventually have to earn a living and therefore they need to know how to limit their expenditure however tempting it is to buy without need knowing their parents will pay later. Whatever our level of income or lifestyle we want our DC to learn that as do most parents even at these very privileged schools.
You said your DS was 'smart' to charge his purchases to you so you are the one giving him a bad press, I made no comments on how sensible he was or is.

IndridCold · 30/03/2014 23:20

happy it must vary between houses at Eton, because we did not have to buy a desk, only a chair. Table and bureau-style desk both supplied.

Nothing comes home in the holidays except casual clothes and laptop, perfectly manageable on the train. His posters have to be taken down at the end of the year, but that's it.

IndridCold · 30/03/2014 23:29

fleur this stuff about having to shift vast quantities of furniture at the end of each term is all crap (see my comments to happygardening above). Ditto the running up of extras. The whole point of the new card system is that your DS can only spend what you give him, and can't run up unforeseen debts on the chit system to give you a shock when the bill comes in. There will be the odd team photo and theatre outing, that's about it, so please don't worry

We did not have an induction day, but you will be summoned to a housekeeping meeting with your Dame, and all will be explained. Your tailor and Eton sports will also look after you magnificently.

Original poster

FleurForesight · 31/03/2014 10:38

Thank you, Indrid.

OP posts:

grovel · 31/03/2014 10:45

Well, my DS only needed a desk chair. The rest was either provided (desk etc) or optional (armchair/rug). He never had to bring furniture home at the end of term.

Good that the chits have gone (if they really have!).

Dapplegrey · 01/04/2014 08:40

I don't remember having to bring furniture home at the end of term.

summerends · 01/04/2014 09:38

Is n't Eton used for some residential holiday courses?
Maybe some of the houses advise parents who have bought nicer items of furniture that it might be safer to move it and there is n't enough storage within house. Sounds as though it is the exception rather than the rule.

grovel · 01/04/2014 10:24

That's a good point, summerends. Perhaps the houses hosting the choral/rowing/Brent courses recommend that boys take their furniture home. Similarly houses being re-decorated in the holidays may do the same but it's definitely not the norm.

Original poster

FleurForesight · 01/04/2014 21:52

DS has now decided that he needs a chaise longue as a result of this thread. He is going to have to start saving up now.

OP posts:

peteneras · 20/04/2014 03:19

Have meant to come back on this thread but even Eton parents have to go out to make a living, y’know? And the powers that be at MN-HQ didn’t help matters either by deleting my password and I found myself locked out for a while unable to gain access because some morons out there had previously hijacked my Hotmail e-mail address where the link to reset my MN password had been sent. Thanks, Sandy for helping me reset my password by another means.

”I think for those boys who will be living in the real world without limitless income, it is all part of the process of growing up to have parents restrict their expenditure and make sure that the bill is not a shock.”

Well, summerends, you may feel it necessary to restrict your child’s expenditure as part of their growing up process, but I don’t. The question is, for how long are you going to control your child’s liberty and when do you decide you can trust them to be mature enough to make their own judgments?

For me, I do not have the problem of not being able to trust my child to make his own judgements and decisions - not when he’s already become a teenager at 13 when he first entered Eton.

” You said your DS was 'smart' to charge his purchases to you so you are the one giving him a bad press, I made no comments on how sensible he was or is.”

There are some who implied on this thread that it’s safer (for want of a better word) to put a certain amount of money in the child’s bank account and let the child use his debit card to spend from this account. To me, this is placing a restriction on the child and not showing much faith in him and I don’t like that. I’m sending my child to a School where he’s got to learn about responsibility, trust, self-control, good judgment, legality, morality, etc. Let’s face it, how on earth is he going to be Chancellor of The Exchequer or Prime Minister if I cannot trust him with a mere few hundred quids as a teenager? No, instead I gave him a VISA Platinum Card with a 5-figure credit limit while in the final year when he turned 18 and just before entering university.

Maybe I’m stupid but please enlighten me. Isn’t the money in the child’s bank account the same money from the parents? And why would he trouble himself unnecessarily every month fiddling with bank statements reconciling the bank account as if he had nothing else better to do at College while his parents can easily deal with the school bill once every term? It’s a no brainer . . .

summerends · 20/04/2014 12:57

Peteneras you do make me smile, thanks and Happy Easter .

peteneras · 20/04/2014 19:36

Thank you, summerends. And a very Happy Easter to you too. Just keep on smiling!

pombearsforbrunch · 20/04/2014 19:46

Genius solution - you're stressed about cash flow, so I'll second the suggestion of giving your child a 5-figure limit platinum credit card. Oh wait....

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