State school success stories to inspire academically average DS and his friends

[Dulwichmamma]

State school success stories to inspire academically average DS and his friends

DS is in Y8 at a large London comp in Southwark/Dulwich area. The school does lots to raise aspiration and push the pupils to realise their full potential. I have no complaints. There are considerable numbers of pupils from broken homes, exposure to drugs, mental health issues etc but many middle of the road families too. Quite a few kids go on to uni at the end of their time at the school.

DS has been put me on the spot, though, by asking me if any successful people had been to his school. I went to the alumni list on Wikipedia and found zero (exempting professional footballers!)
I would like to compile a list of 20 or so celebrities/successful people who attended local comprehensive schools, if only to go back to DS and his friends to inspire them.

I’m also considering contacting the school to see if they couldn’t reach out to any successful ex-pupils to go back to the school to give a talk to the youngsters. Is this something any other schools do?

(Strictly no grammar school pupils)

Current list

Lord Sugar – Entrepreneur, Brooke House Comprehensive, London
Matthew Wright – Journalist, talkshow host, John Fisher School, Surrey
John and William Seaward – Actors/’The InBetweeners’, John Fisher School, Surrey
Jude Law – Actor, Kidbrooke Comp, London
Stella McCartney – Fashion designer, Bexhill Comp, Sussex
Robbie Williams – Popstar, St Margarets Catholic School, Stoke-on-Trent
Andy McNab – ex-SAS, author, Kingsdale Comp, Dulwich
Hayley Atwell – Actress, London Oratory School
Safety Fire – Rock band, London Oratory School
Ed Milliband – Former Leader of HM Opposition, Haverstock Comp, London
Oona King – Labour Politician, Haverstock Comp, London
Dominic Cooper – Thomas Tallis School, Kidbrooke
Kate Tempest – Thomas Tallis School, Kidbrooke

Surely most famous people went to state schools because most people go to state schools. Also, not all successful people are famous.

Pete Waterman. Might not like his music but he's done alright. I'm going to keep naming them 😂😂

He's not a celeb, but my DH went to an ordinary state school, went to a university that is ranked 8th in the world and 1st in the world for innovation. He now designs F1 cars for a living

Guy Martin.

Milliband also had a daddy who pulled a few strings to get him into Oxbridge and politics on the back of very average A levels.

Ed Miliband got 2 As and 2 Bs, although he's old enough to have sat the entrance exam (which if you passed you then got a 2 Es offer) so his results were probably irrelevant anyway. Ralph Miliband was not an Oxbridge academic and I can't find any references to him "pulling strings" for either son.

I think you're confusing him with Toby Young here, whose father notoriously pulled strings for him to get into Oxford.

Surely loads of people are very successful but wouldn't be known of as celebrities. My daughter, for example, has proceeded down a very academic pathway (finishing Phd currently at a very prestigious uni) )after attending a pretty dodgy inner city community college. This sort of tale should serve to show that hard work and not falling in with the wrong crowd can really pay off.

What subjects or fields is your son interested in so people could give more relevant examples? Lots of succesful people attended comprehensives even in professions where private school and grammar school students are very over-represented, such as High Court judges, newspaper editors or CEOs...

Famous but not actors:
Sadiq Kahn (Ernest Bevin College)
Sir Jonny Ive (Ipod, iphone designer)
Piers Linney, Theo Paphitis (Businessmen and Dragons Den judges)

www.speakers4schools.org/ organise free talks in state schools by successful (including some famous) people from different fields, may of whom attended state schools themselves - it might be worth suggesting to the school. www.inspiringthefuture.org/ is another similar organisation.

@Mominatrix

Of course Stella McCartney had a huge leg-up - no-one would deny that. But I bet if she's been to a top girls public school people would have assumed that that had something to do with her success as well as her name. And her husband when explaining why their kids were going private gave it the old "oh, we feel bad about it but the state schools round here aren't good enough". Like, they live in Notting Hill, they can afford to move wherever they like and they can't find a primary that's good enough?? The reason they haven't gone state is because they've fallen for the line that private "must" be better.

Many of the "famous names" that we associate with private schools actually went to top public schools, the ones we tend to have heard of. I doubt that the sort of "normal indie" like the one at the bottom of my road gives its pupils the same sort of advantages as Eton or Harrow. But that doesn't stop it benefiting from the general idea that "private schools" must be better. Yet with state schools we always have this "oh, well it's not a normal comp is it" or "oh, well, look at who Daddy was."

When any mention of Eddie Raymond as a "private school success" is accompanied with "Well, that's hardly a bog-standard private school is it" then I'll stop banging on about this.

I never seen any mention of “private school success”. Usually success is attributed to the wealth/connections of the family rather than the school. My DS attends a private school but because we do t have any serious connections/very rich it won’t make any difference to his future.

I went to a top private school and have done really well in my career but I am in the minority from my year.

So I've sent my DC state as I don't think it's worth the money. I am lucky as we have excellent state schools locally - I would go private if we didn't.

I see why social climbers might want to do it regardless, though.

My Welsh colleague looking over my shoulder says Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, went to Penyrheol Comprehensive School.

Stella McCartney is not a good example. She is well known for being a little pissed off that her dad sent her to an ordinary comprehensive school - certainly I've read many interviews she's given to that effect. She did have a fashion/couture internship with Christian Lacroix in Paris at age 15/16 - regular work experience from a comprehensive school.

Five - time Olympian and 2014 European ten thousand metre champion Jo Pavey. Went to the Kings School, Ottery St Mary. Comprehensive School not Grammar.

My Welsh colleague looking over my shoulder says Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, went to Penyrheol Comprehensive School.

Also Jude Kelly, theatre director who is currently director of the Southbank Centre, went to Quarry Bank Comprehensive, Liverpool.

Sorry, didn't mean to include previous reply with that - not sure how that happened.

You are not doing very well with your original list op - Jude Law left his comprehensive school at age 14 because he was bullied - he joined Alleyn's, a co-ed independent school in Dulwich, before dropping out of A levels to join the cast of a tv soap.

Violinboymum

You don't think there's a general perception that people who go to private schools will be more successful than those who don't? You can certainly argue about whether it's correct or not but I don't think anyone would say it doesn't exist.

Why would people pay thousands and thousands of pounds for the same outcome they could have got for free?

Noble - the same reason some people pay the extra for business class travel. Everyone arrives at the same destination but some had a nicer seat, more space and someone fussing around them as they travel.

HPFA, generally kids in private schools will have better outcome thanks to their parents, who are either rich enough to help financially or pushy enough to get bursaries in private schools. Personally I have a lazy c hold who needs an extra push and who needs driven peers. That’s why we moved him from grammar to private.

Lazy son! Stupid phone.

Quite often it can be difficult to link the actual school to future success. Sporty people are sporty. They have talent. They can join athletics clubs, football clubs, rugby clubs etc to perfect their skill. If they are lucky, a school might nurture them, but possibly not.

Often self made businessmen are not blessed with a great school career and are often successful despite school! I’m also not sure children really look at celebrities and think “where did they go to school?” They are more interested in how they did what they have ended up doing. My DDs don’t find sports people inspiring because they are not sporty, but do admire their tenacity and skill. Their success won’t rub off on my DDs!

I think better careers advice trumps “inspirational” speakers any day. That advice is good if it comes from those who have excellent recent experience in that field. I’d prefer that to someone who walked to the North Pole any day.

Bubbles I agree! DS1 has career days at school for both parents and children, it was very inspirational to hear how people got into their chosen careers and also to speak to recruiters and ask what university/course would be most beneficial for this career.

I dont know about famous people but why do they have to be famous. Neither of my parents went to uni. My dad left at 14 and was a fireman all his life, my mum a house wife. We all went to local comp. I went to uni twice and am qualified teacher. One if my friends was a senior manager style position in the civil service, one worked for the bbc in media planning, one is a senior project manager in IT, one was a senior games developer at Sony, my husband runs a very profitable business. All of my friendship group went to uni, (though not all finished) all employed, all live in mortgaged homes. Comprehensive education can breed many success stories. I guess it depends what you class as a success!!

I’m sure I’ve read that Paul and Linda McCartney chose to send their children to state schools deliberately.

Bros brothers went to Collingwood school (now college) in Camberley
Peter Davison went to the Winston Churchill school in Woking.