Winchester, St. Paul's, or Eton?

[PGWo]

I hope you all are staying safe.

My son is learning remotely from his prep school. He is about to finish year six, and our headmaster said he would be a good candidate to sit a scholarship examination for a public school.

Our son is very academic and dislikes sport. The headmaster recommends Winchester and St. Paul's, but has mentioned that Eton may be a good choice.

We want to give him an all-boy's, boarding school education. Any insight would help, especially about bullying and academic quality.

Having said that I am also a big happygardening fan so wasn't keen on the attack on her. I find her posts extremely balanced.

@Bringringbring12 Oh dear, no I haven't!

@Delta1, Happygardening was very helpful to me too, years ago (when I was also posting under another name).

I do think BJ is only one Etonian - clearly there have been many successful PMs from Eton and 1? from Winchester. It's not the only thing that counts but it says something, more connected, better socially, better OE group...
It depends on which environment your son is most comfortable in - Winchester is better for mavericks to grow at their own pace I'd say and Eton is just generally more rounded - undeniably in sport.. Maybe Winchester for a gentler, less sporty child and Eton for a more average boy. I agree neither are particularly STEM strong although I think both are good in them just not many from public schools choose to read science and engineering at uni - History, PPE etc are much more popular. Equally academic I'd say though sometimes Eton doesn't have that rep so much as Winchester - Winchester is known mainly for academics, not sport, not for running the country.. something to be said.
I know people who are massively unhappy at Winchester - find it cut off, boring, full of social outcasts - maybe not to that extent it all depends on your perception and how you blend with the rest, your house, classmates, etc, also Eton some do leave to go to Marlborough etc but not many at all

I wouldn't do Winchester if I were you unless an academic push is the primary focus here or you genuinely love the school. I'd look at Harrow, Marlborough, though all schools have their problems I admit, ultimately you just want a good fit.

@EtonianMother

It’s peteneras!

“How sad! Little do they realise the odds are massively stacked against them and with only

@Peteneras " It is common for Masters to address boys, even very young ones, as "Sir" (individually) and "Gentlemen" when in a group." ... well, that really prepares them for grown up life and helps explain while they feel so entitled.

Hi @PGWo!

My colleagues and I work with schools. Education is the 'industry' we are in.

Most kids will be fine at most schools; some will be fine at only some schools; some will not be ok at any school. Fundamentally, it's not about the school - it's about the core maturity and the emotional and social intelligence of the boy and how strong and fast a learner he is about life. How well will your son adapt and how quickly?

Winchester is significantly more academic and Eton has a few more boys who are movers and shakers. Each has boys who are nice and boys who are not.

I would target either Eton or Winchester, plus St Paul's. .... Harrow?

A narrow contribution, but is you are looking for London boarding for a very academic non-sporty child, Westminster trumps StPs. It runs on boarding school lines, and has substantially more boarders. Yes they take girls in the sixth form, but I thought StPs were considering the same. Girls are still a minority and sixth form is quite different from the rest of the school. Co Ed at 16 is, in my view, a good preparation for the next step.

Dear PGWo, in my opinion Winchester is good for timid and introvert boys, the school is rather smaller and kids are not driven by being macho in sport.

Extrovert boys may do well too. I was doing a lot of research on this when my son got offer last year. Happygardening and another kind woman called Faslene also gave me a kind helpful advise here. I was not sure at the time if Winchester is right for my son since he is very sporty but quite, bright but not that academic compare to others (he is very very good in some of the subjects but terrible in many). I went to talk to many of the current boys and boys who recently left and it seems Winchester is very much like university, you can find your own niche and interest in Winchester, there is no right or wrong. No need to be good in sport to be cool but now they are also trying to be more rounded and they are getting better in sport , beating the like of Marlborough in football and lost to Eton and Charterhouse just 2-1.

Nowadays Winchester is also little bit more open and if you get an offer they will invite you and your son to 'Our journey together' event where you will be able to attend activities together with your son (there are choices such as sport, Div ( general knowledge class which is a core of Winchester), Sculpture and print, Natural History, Music, Art History, heritage books collection at the library. We went to the event and got a better idea of what the school is like. The headmaster and dons are to be there to discuss whatever you need to know. I think if your DS like intellectual environment and liberal education here is one of the best place.

I think comparing school by how many prime minister is little bit silly. Not every kid dreams to be a world leader. I mean it is great to have some schools that produce a world leader and that place is may be good for someone who wants to increase their chance of becoming one. It is really depend on that your DS are like and what kind of environment will make him thrive, he properly wants to run a private equity funds somewhere quietly or be a professors somewhere or even a musician or and artist, nothing is wrong. But who knows he could start quietly and excel somewhere and turn out to be a world leader. Que Sera Sera.

Well just a view if your choice ( if he is accepted ) is between St Paul's Winchester or Eton then you are very very fortunate & my advice would be 1) do you want full boarding or not ( If you do then strike out St Paul's as others have said ) and once done 2) where does your DS feel most comfortable - and that is the school he should go to.

IMHO the whole Winchester boys are introverted social misfits thing who couldn't catch a ball with a fishing net ( I exaggerate for effect ) is just out of date nonsense. As far as I can see they are quietly confident boys and a few of them are quite good at sport & art ( shocker ) ( but they don't have the acres of rugby pitches - indeed none ) - Equally not every boy from Eton will be PM and many are just nice well rounded & clever young men. I do think that if that is the choice you have - let your DS make the choice in that I am a believer if a DS chooses where he feels comfortable - he will thrive.

It seems to me that if you ( one) accepts that principle then the choice between W & E really is off the scale as to 1st world problems - both will give a fantastic education - possibly with slightly different slants - but both fantastic. If you are really considering St Paul's ( i.e. you don't really want full boarding - then obviously Westminster would be a natural place to consider also - again both fabulous schools. )

So not sure abut the comments about ages of your children , but if these schools are genuine serious contenders then let your DS make his choice.

I wish you and he well

"Bullying isn't something that this old school had never heard of or knew anything about. Just like the school's foundation, this actively has been consigned to history long ago. It is absolutely not tolerated!!!"

And that's what I said just a couple or so months ago. But of course, inevitably, there would be born-losers somehow, somewhere, who would deem it fit to emerge from the woodwork to expose themselves and exhibit their stupidity and ignorance. Instead of coming to a thread like this to learn and be enlightened, they rather tell the world their insecurity and show their chip on their shoulder!

And here I was thinking it was only a "recent" thing that Eton had done away with bullying until I saw this earlier this week that bullying in fact, had seen its last daylight long before most all of you were even born! And to think I had even read this gentleman's book, 'CRY HAVOC' when it was first published in 2011...

[beginning final minute]
"It's a big school. . .even then there were 1200 boys. And it was extremely tolerant. There was no bullying - I never encountered any real bullying at Eton. Which in those days was quite unusual compared with what one heard from other schools. . ." Simon Mann, mercenary extraordinaire.