Chav chants and violence at Whitgift

[googoogaga1]

Hi,

Until I learned of the recent nastiness from Whitgift parents towards John Fisher School’s team and their parents at a recent home rugby fixture, we had set our hearts on putting DS2 forward for the Whitgift 10+. He was a talented dual-code rugby union and league player for his prep school back in Oz and Whitgift really appealed both on the academic and sporting fronts.

However, the incident with JFS has left a bad taste in our mouths, especially given the press coverage the incident received. DH was a pupil at John Fisher back in the early 90s when the school was ‘selective’ and used to play Whitgift and Dulwich and the like regularly. He says there was never any of this kind of nonsense between parents or the teams. While we had considered JF for DS2 before moving back to the U.K. (coming from Oz), we were advised by friends that the school had changed considerably from back then and how DH may remember it. Both DH and I (public non-selective state school in Queensland) have no problem with DS2 attending a regular type school so long as the academics and sporting culture are strong, yet Whitgift just seems light years ahead on all fronts.

Am I being silly to let an incident like this bother me? I really don’t want to consign DS2 to a school which lords it over his state school contemporaries. Are Whitgift parents arrogant and class conscious? Are John Fisher parents these days regarded as ghastly peasants or ‘chavs’?

[Racecardriver]

It sounds like the parents are a bit new money and painfully aware of it and they passed on their insecurities to their children. We have a slightly new money private school near our house. Many of the parents are a bit like that. I wouldn’t bother tbh. It will be just as bad as a state school. I would look for a better school. The boarding system here is much better than in Australia so I would reccomend you consider the option if it’s with your price range.

[outpruningthebushes]

John Fisher was a most terrific school during my time there. I suppose what really stood out was that parents were so committed to a selective single-sex Catholic education, that they would send their boys from far and wide, or even consider relocating altogether. That was affirmation - if it were needed - that we were providing a type of schooling Catholic parents struggled to find in the state sector.

I will never forget one time when a young lad (accompanied by his parents) came through my office door, ''Miss, Mum says I can come to this school if you let me in'' - council estate, Penge, but bright, cheeky, a bundle of energy, sharp as a whip.


With one place left in that year's allocation of 100 boys it was between this little scamp of a boy and a more polished candidate from the Webb Estate (An expensive neighbourhood close to the school).


Care to guess who won a place?


Whitgift pupils would need a gentle word now and again to remind them of their privilege. Having said that, there were many boys on scholarships and bursaries at the school when I taught there once upon a time. The school was by no means a haunt for toffs.

[googoogaga1]

Out pruning the bushes,

Let's hope it was 'the little scamp of a lad' who got a place at John Fisher !

I'm sure the boy from the posh part of town could have afforded to go private anyway...

[91Waterproof]

Sadly a friend's son, on a full bursary at a school not unlike Whitgift and not a million miles from it, came home one day from school in Year 8 last year, and said "Mummy, anyone who doesn't go to private school is a chav, aren't they?".

[NastyCats]

I would be as concerned about the quality of the education that the year 8 boy was receiving at a private or public school that would lead him to make such a statement as by the obvious moral and social ignorance he was displaying!

[Plessis]

I appreciate you are worried, but if you are choosing to send your child to an exclusive private school then you are supporting the us and them ethos. There will be parents and boys who think that state school pupils are chavs. That's what you are paying for.

[CherryPavlova]

I’m also thinking it’s Croydon and having been to several fencing competitions there, it wouldn’t be my choice.

[propatria]

Whitgift isnt a public school,its a private school in Croydon,its a decent rugby school but certainly isnt "the school to beat",Wellington and Sedbergh have already done that this season,it doesnt play in the Champions Trophy which is the RFUs top schools competition,at the moment in the most accurate school rankings it doesnt feature in the top 15

[BunnyCake]

Just to mention that Whitgift is a 5 minute car/bus ride away from central Croydon which has regular stabbings. Not an exaggeration to say they are regular.

[questionsneverstop]

BunnyCake, just like camden, clapham south, shepherds bush.....