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Secondary education

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Original poster

Academic scholarship at City of London or Hampton?

74 replies

Bazelle · 20/02/2015 21:57

My son got his heart set into Hampton, which he was offered a place at last week but now, completely out of the blue he got an academic scholarship at City. The difference in money is substantial, around £6000 per year. We are academics, and gave 2 younger children that we would love to send to private school as well. My head says City all the way, but he is now having a fit. I think he is scared about having to take the tube to go to City, instead of the cosy coach ride to Hampton. At Hampton we would have to give up on our cleaner, he couldn't go to the expensive trips etc. it is a no brainer but I don't know how to sell it to him.

OP posts:
Cantdecideondinner · 21/02/2015 13:22

I don't know Hampton but City is the most fabulous school with such lovely boys. Might would bite their hands off

Original poster
Bazelle · 21/02/2015 14:10

This is agony. The journey is about one hour either in the tube to city or by coach to Hampton. FWIW we also have an offer from Latymer, which is about 30 min journey. And his best friend will be going there. Confused

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Original poster
Bazelle · 21/02/2015 14:10

This is agony. The journey is about one hour either in the tube to city or by coach to Hampton. FWIW we also have an offer from Latymer, which is about 30 min journey. And his best friend will be going there. Confused

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farewelltoarms · 21/02/2015 14:23

Just realised your other kids go to private primary - stick them in a nice state school, keep the cleaner and send your son to latymer (as nearest). No one with kids at a private primary can me claiming austerity. Local state schools are fab at a younger age (and arguably at older age too, something we're currently grappling with - post good selective school offers - including city - from a bog standard primary).

nochocolateforlentteacake · 21/02/2015 14:24

Well, its a 'good' agony iykwim. Has he a preference?

Eastpoint · 21/02/2015 14:27

Latymer is a great football school - they've been in national u15 finals. Probably more expensive than Hampton or CLSB though. If he likes rowing he'll be able to get there on his own rather than you having to be at Hampton at 6:30.

Kuppenbender · 21/02/2015 14:40

Eastpoint, Hampton is unfortunately a little bit more expensive than Latymers but on the plus side they are in u15s and u18s football finals this year.

Eastpoint · 21/02/2015 14:42

Does their fee include lunch? When I did comparatives I included lunches, it's usually about £3.30 per day. Well done Hampton this year, I know one of their ex-star rugby players, they are brilliant at that too.

Waitingandhoping2015 · 21/02/2015 14:46

An hour on the coach to Hampton sounds like quite a long time and subject to delays many times will increase that. It's only a 20 minute bus journey for us but Hampton Court has the ability to delay that so that 20 minutes can easily double I believe and one day recently the bus didn't arrive until 10am!

Kuppenbender · 21/02/2015 15:26

Eastpoint, lunches are extra. My point was really that Bazelle actually has quite a pleasant conundrum. A burden that many of those on waiting lists for places would be quite happy to bear. All three schools could by all accounts claim to be 'top' schools.

I would add that I expect any resentment the OP's DS harbours if they end up at Latymers or CoL would be short lived. Both excellent schools. Maybe a little perspective along the lines of ninety-something percent of children get what they're given in the state school lottery might be in order.

Original poster
Bazelle · 21/02/2015 16:11

good point Kuppen. I should point out to him how fortunate he is to be in this position, to think about his sisters' schooling and family holidays etc. His sisters are in an all through school and frankly, I do not fancy having to do this 11+ madness again to prepare them for grammar schools.

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Original poster
Bazelle · 21/02/2015 16:39

Just had a proper look on the map where the sports grounds of CoL are. This is a really long way from where we live, 1 hour by car WITHOUT traffic, which never happens. Hmmm.

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SouthLondonParent · 21/02/2015 16:46

How long would it take you to drive to Hampton?

Original poster
Bazelle · 21/02/2015 17:56

According to citymapper 23 min. There can be quite a lot of traffic too and when there is a rugby match at Twickenham 2 h :(

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Original poster
Bazelle · 21/02/2015 17:56

According to citymapper 23 min. There can be quite a lot of traffic too and when there is a rugby match at Twickenham 2 h :(

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Waitingandhoping2015 · 21/02/2015 18:04

If you were picking him up from hampton after sport on a Sat am then you may be early enough to miss rugby traffic - all sports seem to have finished by 11.45 which is the time we usually arrive.

Original poster
Bazelle · 21/02/2015 19:18

Hampton has a lot to offer. Is it worth £500 a month though? Can't make my head round this. And the fees go up by 6% every year.

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Original poster
Bazelle · 21/02/2015 19:18

Hampton has a lot to offer. Is it worth £500 a month though? Can't make my head round this. And the fees go up by 6% every year.

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Eastpoint · 21/02/2015 19:26

I would guess that the school won't have matches clashing with the rugby but you can check that easily on their website, they must have fixtures showing so parents can check timings etc. If DS is ill/gets injured in a match which is easier for you to get to from work. Even in senior school you have to go to school to pick them up if there's a problem.

SouthLondonParent · 21/02/2015 19:59

As I've said before, you must have applied to these schools fully expecting to pay full fees, so setting the scholarship aside, you must have considered whether you could afford the fees at Hampton when you made the application. Playing devil's advocate, you could argue that you are now penalising your son for doing well in his exams by not letting him choose his preference.
Choosing to send your DC on a 1 hour commute into Central London by public transport each day (not withstanding transport delays which could make it even longer) is a very big decision indeed in my opinion.

Original poster
Bazelle · 21/02/2015 21:42

Indeed. We resigned ourselves to austerity measures because we thought he had the potential to do well and deserved it. But now we have the possibility of easing the financial pressure, which is difficult to ignore. At his CoL interview he told the woman, maybe the head FWIK, that his favourite school was Hampton, because they were better at football and had playing fields at their doorstep. I reckon he would have said his favourite school was City he might not have been offered a scholarship. We will keep you posted of our decision, particularly if we decide to "negotiate" with Hampton as this can be useful information. But as someone said, this might work with schools a bit lower down the league table. This site is great.

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Original poster
Bazelle · 21/02/2015 21:48

I don't understand why some of my posts are duplicate though, sorry about that.

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Original poster
Bazelle · 21/02/2015 21:48

I don't understand why some of my posts are duplicate though, sorry about that.

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Cantdecideondinner · 22/02/2015 09:54

Despite shouting City at you on a previous post I should add that we went for a more local school based on the fact that we have a sporty son and the sports grounds are just too far away for us to trek to at weekends without seriously impacting on our lives. So that might be the decider, on the other hand £5000 is an awful lot of money to save. It's £35k over the school career.

nochocolateforlentteacake · 22/02/2015 10:14

So what's the decision? Its a tough one but remember - you can't really make a 'bad' call here. Will your son travel alone or will soneone take him? I often see gaggles of City boys on the tube travelling together (always so funny and friendly, and DS - much younger - often joins in with the chatter) so maybe there will be a kid nearby doing the same trip?