Which independent girls' school is the classiest in the UK?

[capstix]

This is just a hypothetical question. Both my kids are now at university. But purely out of interest, I would love to know which girls' school or schools people think are the poshest, classiest, most revered, most elite in the country. Please also let me know why you think so.

This is just a 'for instance' and I hope it doesn't cause any offence!

Ones I can think of in the top echelons would be (in what I think is a possible order):

Cheltenham Ladies'
St Mary's Ascot
Downe House
St Paul's Girls
Wycombe Abbey
Benenden
Heathfield
Tudor Hall
Sherborne Girls
Roedean
Francis Holland SW1
St Mary's Calne
Francis Holland NW1
St George's Ascot
St Swithun's
City of London Girls
James Allen's Girls' School (Jags)
Queen Margaret's
Woldingham School
Godolphin
Godolphin & Latymer
The Lady Eleanor Holles School
Malvern St James

Some of my distant cousins attended St Mary’s Ascot, they were very posh. I know a fair few girls at LEH and they are all very normal middle class girls, bright but not especially posh, lots living in very normal 3/4 bed terraced and semi detached houses.

I attended one of the schools in the list. No one who went to any of those schools would ever discuss schools by reference to which was the "classiest". If by "classiest" you mean which is the Eton/Harrow equivalent that Russian and Chinese billionaires would like to send their daughters to because it is perceived as "elite", probably Cheltenham Ladies' or Wycombe Abbey.

@JTK392

Do people really say “classiest” ??

Not if they went to one of these schools they don’t

There are lots of smart schools OP.

Classy is a funny word in the UK. Everyone knows what it means but it isn’t really used by most middle class parents - certainly not upper middle class parents who send children to these schools. They wouldn’t use it about restaurants, hotels, clothing or schools or indeed at all.

It’s mostly an aspirational word - I know someone lovely who is keen to be “classy”. They don’t want to look out of place and want to be like people they perceive as posher.

I can understand being on the outside looking in and wanting to know which school is classier. If op had asked which UK school has most social cachet she might have got different answers. It is true though that most parents won’t admit any part “poshness” plays.

The affluent pick schools for all kinds of different reasons. The school my kids go to is fee paying but not posh at all - we are there for the art and music.

We’re certainly not posh!! I should have added that!

@BeKind2022

You forgot to include St. Trinians. They always seems a particularly classy group of young ladies to me.

One of my daughters really wants to go there. I think she will fit right in.

On the "class" front I did once have a boyfriend who only became interesting me as I had been to one of the "right" schools and was therefore marriage material. Fortunately I realised he was a dick within a few months. So it does matter to some people. (One of the London super selective girl state schools.)

Classy really isn't used by the sorts of people who attend your list. (I'm assuming that's what you mean by the American comment)

I think that exclusive, posh, elite, fancy might be more common words to describe what I think you're asking but ime posh people don't care or discuss class so my comments about the word classy still stand.

This article explains how these groups just don’t use the word classy

www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a1166/classy/

Even in the US!!

"Classy" is definitely an American import and would 100% appear on Nicky Haslam's tea towel

[quote MissHavershamReturns]This article explains how these groups just don’t use the word classy

www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a1166/classy/[/quote]
It also demonstrates why it’s an Americanism.

In the US it implies possession of particular aspirational qualities

In the U.K. membership of the Bullingdon implies membership of a particular class, but not any positive qualities.

To ignore the 'classy' debate, I went to one of those schools and in terms of the list, I would judge an 'order' if necessary based on who had socials with each boys' school. We had socials with Eton and two other schools.

I think the organisation's choices of social partners said more about their social aspirations than anything else. It certainly doesn't reflect their academic credentials.

I'd also order it based on how much etiquette formed part of daily life attending the school but that is a much harder thing to assess and it would be outing I think to give examples based on the school I attended.

Bear in mind that a lot of “top” schools may have a significant proportion of foreign children from wealthy backgrounds - such as Chinese or Russian or Nigerian - and they won’t necessarily fit into any sort of perceived idea about class hierarchy.

@User154871

To ignore the 'classy' debate, I went to one of those schools and in terms of the list, I would judge an 'order' if necessary based on who had socials with each boys' school. We had socials with Eton and two other schools.

I think the organisation's choices of social partners said more about their social aspirations than anything else. It certainly doesn't reflect their academic credentials.

I'd also order it based on how much etiquette formed part of daily life attending the school but that is a much harder thing to assess and it would be outing I think to give examples based on the school I attended.

But isn't that more to do with location of schools, and where brothers might be attending?

I'd love to hear what you have to say on etiquette forming daily life though.

Given the weirdness of the question, I suspect this thread is research for an article- some work has been put into that list. To answer, I’d say the list isn’t bad. I’d put Queen Margaret’s higher up and probably drop LEH. Might swap CLC and St Mary’s Ascot.

St Mary's Ascot is the Eaton of girls schools.

As an aside, I believe classiest is the more informal superlative of classy. If one went to these schools surely they would ask, "which is the most classy?" I may be wrong.
Sorry just being pedantic based on the nature of the original question. 😬

Probably add in NLCS given you’ve got SPGS and City.

The word you're looking for is 'elitist'.

@TeenPlusCat

It might be to do with where brothers attend but I suspect it's not. We travelled further to attend some schools and therefore didn't go to the closest ones.

I can think of at least 3 constantly used rules based on giving respect to other pupils as well as teachers. We had etiquette lessons. And we were given feedback on our progress which was reported by all the staff in a meeting so our head of year could give us pointers. We also had to earn privileges through our decorum which couldn't be earned any other way (like academically)

@capstix

I suspect *@JTK392, @GetOffTheTableMabel, @MissyB1, @merrymouse, @Onthetrain75, @cherryonthecakes and @Moobootoyoutoo* have been watching too much American television. I agree that when Donald Trump says "Classiest" it does sound somewhat gauche.

Nonetheless, "classiest" is a perfectly normal word in a British context - it means having the most class.

I did make it clear that it was hypothetical, @vipersnest1, so I suggest if anyone has any "getting over themselves to do" there's an element of pot and kettle going on.

The rest of you, thank you very much for your comments.

Classiest doesn’t have any meaning in this context though (apart from the point that no one at these schools would use such a term), these are almost all very smart schools - people choose between them for different reasons. My impressions below

Cheltenham Ladies' - academic, socially smart-ish. Quite tough.

St Mary's Ascot - academic. Very socially smart. Small. nurturing.
Downe House - very academic. Tough. Socially smart.
St Paul's Girls - very academic, very pressured, but a day school. Some elements of grandeur but mostly MC competitive.
Wycombe Abbey - very academic, pressured, socially elite.

Benenden - moderately academic. Socially quite smart.
Heathfield - not very academic. Socially smart.
Tudor Hall - dunno so much about this one - middling academically I think.
Sherborne Girls - quite academic, not especially grand. Nurturing.
Roedean - not especially grand. Middling academic.
Francis Holland SW1 - very socially smart, not super academic
St Mary's Calne - very academic, small tough, seems to be have been knocked of the most fashionable academic girls school perch by Wycombe, probably because it’s not very visually attractive and it’s tiny
Francis Holland NW1 - a bit more academic, a bit less grand than the other one
St George's Ascot - middling both ways
St Swithun's - more of a local MC school
City of London Girls - academic, not especially grand
James Allen's Girls' School (Jags) - academic, not at all grand
Queen Margaret's - in Edinburgh? Just MC I think, quite academic
Woldingham School - middling academic, middling smart
Godolphin - fairly academic, not especially smart
Godolphin & Latymer - isn’t this a boys school?
The Lady Eleanor Holles School - more academic than it was, not especially smart
Malvern St James - more of a local MC school, with some country elements

@spaceman1

St Mary's Ascot is the Eaton of girls schools.

@spaceman1

Well it isn’t, because they much prefer you to be RC, which limits the intake

Regardless of that I still see it in top place.

@Kilimanjaro97 I always wished I could have gone to Whyteleafe!! I loved those books!

Fettes and Gordonstoun could be added to list for some Scottish diversity.